SOMALI WORLD CUP REFEREE DENIED ENTRY TO UNITED STATES. (PHOTO).

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 Somali World Cup Referee Denied Entry to United States Award-winning Somali referee, Omar Artan, has been denied entry into the United States despite holding a valid visa, according to a senior official in Somalia’s sports ministry. Artan, who is set to become the first Somali referee to officiate at the FIFA World Cup finals, was stopped at Miami International Airport and subsequently returned to Istanbul, where he had been residing. The reason for the denial was not immediately disclosed. However, Somalia is among the countries affected by a travel ban introduced by the administration of Donald Trump. Reacting to the development, Ciise Aden Abshir, a senior adviser to Somalia’s Ministry of Youth and Sports and a former national team captain, described Artan as one of Africa’s most respected referees. “Omar Artan is among Africa’s most respected referees and deserves the support of the entire football community,” Abshir told AFP on Monday. He added that preventing the referee fro...

CBN INCREASES INTEREST RATE. (PHOTO).


 CBN Increases Interest Rate

May 24, 2023

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Wednesday, raised its benchmark lending rate to 18.5 per cent, from 18 per cent, in an aggressive push to contain the nation’s inflationary pressure.

The CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, announced this Wednesday after the bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting that began Tuesday.

Mr Emefiele while addressing journalists at the end of the two-day meeting in Abuja, said the committee voted to keep the asymmetric corridor at +100 and -700 basis points around the MPR.

He also disclosed that the MPC voted to keep the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) at 32.5 per cent while the Liquidity Ratio was retained at 30 per cent.

“Ten members voted to raise the MPR by 15 basis points and one member by 25 basis points, and all members voted to keep all parameters in constant,” Mr Emefiele said.

The CRR is the share of a bank’s total customer deposit that must be kept with the central bank in the form of liquid cash, while the bank’s liquidity ratio is the proportion of deposits and other assets they must maintain to be able to meet short-term obligations.

In January, the MPC raised its benchmark lending rate from 16.5 per cent to 17.5 per cent in a sustained push to control inflation and ease pressure on the naira.

Similarly, the CBN, during the last MPC in March, raised its benchmark lending rate to 18 per cent in an aggressive push to contain the nation’s inflationary pressure.

Last week, the annual inflation rate of Africa’s largest economy rose to 22.22 per cent in April from 22.04 per cent in the previous month. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said the April 2023 inflation rate increased by 0.18 per cent compared to the March 2023 headline inflation rate.

 

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