The volume of excess liquidity in the interbank money market is set to surpass the N1 trillion mark this week, aggravated by declining patronage for secondary market (Open Market Operations, OMO) treasury bills.
Last week, the market closed with excess liquidity of N888.5 billion following decline in patronage of OMO bills which blunted efforts by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to mop up inflow of N344.9 billion from OMO bills which matured during the week.
Meanwhile, the upsurge in liquidity caused the average short-term cost of funds to fall by 140 basis points, with interest rate on Collateralised (Open Buy Back, OBB) lending dropping by 136 bpts to 2.43 percent last week; The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), Mukula Cartel, disclosed how associates connected to Zambian President Edgar Lungu, including his daughter Tasila Lungu, onetime resident of the United States of America, are reportedly involved in the plunder of valuable, increasingly scarce, mukula rosewood trees; and hence the destruction of Zambia's vulnerable forests

However, the investigation shows that despite public pledges to end the illegal mukula trade, several politicians are repeatedly named as key actors in an influential timber trafficking network that bypasses existing national bans on mukula harvest and export.
Meanwhile, according to EIA undercover investigators documented how the state-owned company Zambia Forestry and Forest Industries Corporation Limited (ZAFFICO) is secretly used by well-connected Zambian and Chinese business operatives as a cover to export thousands of freshly cut mukula logs. This illegal trade flourishes in spite of bans on the harvest, transport, and export of mukula; The UK's biggest retailer, Tesco, is considering a retreat from markets in Asia with the sale of its profitable operations in Thailand and Malaysia.
According to the Analysts, said the 2,000 stores, which operate under the Tesco Lotus brand, could be worth more than £7bn.
Tesco's only other overseas stores are in Ireland and in central Europe, including Poland and Hungary.