Fitch views the Bank’s risk management policies as ‘conservative’ and assesses them as ‘excellent’, in line with AAA-rated peers. “Concentration risk is ‘low’, with the bank’s five largest exposures accounting for 32% of total banking portfolio at end-2020.”
Bajabulile “Swazi” Tshabalala, Vice President for Finance and Chief Finance Officer of the African Development Bank, said:
“The affirmation of the Bank’s triple-A ratings by Fitch recognizes the very strong shareholder support our institution benefits from, as well as its strong capitalization and risk management capabilities. The affirmation also speaks to the importance of the Bank’s public policy mandate, particularly during these very challenging times.”
The global ratings agency assesses the Bank’s overall exposure to risks as “’Low’, balancing ‘Moderate’ credit risk with ‘Excellent’ risk management policies, ‘Low’ concentration, and ‘Very Low’ equity and market risks.”
Responding to the Fitch rating report, African Development Bank Group President Dr. Akinwumi A. Adesina said:
“The African Development Bank welcomes the affirmation of the Bank’s ‘AAA’ rating, with a stable outlook, despite enormous challenges posed by Covid-19. The Bank will continue to enhance its policy and fiscal relevance in support of regional member countries, as they contend with the global and regional repercussions of the pandemic.
While helping African economies reposition their economies in a Covid-19 environment, we will also maintain our prudential ratios and adequate buffers.”
The African Development Bank was recognized by Global Capital in 2020, for its highly successful $3 billion Fight Covid-19 social bond, one of the Bank’s many initiatives to alleviate the impact of the pandemic on African lives and economies.
Group Managing Director, VFD Group Plc, Nonso Okpala, presides over an expansive financial conglomerate with expertise across many sectors. Okpala, a well-rounded finance and economic expert, in a recent interview speaks on Nigeria’s macroeconomic outlook, financial markets and business development.
What are the key variables that will shape the economic space in the second half, especially the financial markets?
Following the recession witnessed in the third quarter of 2020, the economy has recorded two consecutive quarters of economic growth, albeit marginal.
Two major factors that have heavily influenced the economic conversation in the first half of 2021 are inflation and the exchange rate. These will remain a key factor for the rest of the year. In the second half, we expect a likely increase in headline inflation, followed by the growing trend of higher interest rates across most money market instruments, including treasury bills.
Nonso Okpala_VFD Group | Brand Spur Nigeria
In the capital market, we have seen some progress with the implementation of demutualisation. However, factors such as naira stability, earnings performances of key players and government policy would be crucial for market growth, especially towards attracting and retaining foreign investors.
We’ve seen a continuing decline in foreign portfolio investments. What is responsible for this and how do we make Nigeria the preferred destination among emerging markets?
The decline in foreign investments could be attributed to the condition of Nigeria’s economic and business space, as well as the security challenges, socioeconomic uncertainties associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, negative macroeconomic indices and mismatch in policies that have failed to give direction.
Huge concerns around foreign exchange (forex) liquidity, capital repatriation, rising inflation and the deterioration in the macro-environment have also dampened the appetite of foreign portfolio investors. In addition, the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) and mutual funds both recorded bearish performances with the NGX All-Share Index on negative yield between January and June and only 25 out of 118 listed mutual funds posting growth in the first quarter of 2021.
A possible increase in foreign inflow will be supported by the combination of significant improvement in the operating environment and the capital market, relative stability in the foreign exchange market, improved security conditions and deliberate government policies that impacts ease of doing business.
Are we likely to see a rebound in the equities market in the second half?
The equities market is not reflecting impressive corporate earnings or a continuous uptick in fixed income enough to weigh on the market. However, a decline in inflation and convergence of forex rates and forex stability in the second half will boost investor confidence and improve foreign portfolio investments in the equities sector. Those are a few of the conditions that will indicate whether a recovery will occur for NGX ASI, although some sectors are already seeing the positive year-to-date performance. In addition, the SEC is working on various initiatives which we are hopeful would increase local participation in the market.
What sectors do you think investors should look out for?
Across Africa, we have seen accelerated investments in financial technology. This trend would remain the same given the maturity stage we are in and the vast market that remains to be captured.
Real estate is a viable investment sector. A gradual shift into property-tech and rejig of the housing model to increase investment yield and rental yield is required to accelerate growth.
Other sectors to look at include telcos, food and beverages and travels and tourism especially as the world economy comes to a full reopening and travel restrictions are lifted.
Access to finance is still a major issue for individuals and businesses, especially small and medium enterprises (SMEs), how do we improve access to finance? And what is your Group doing about this?
This remains a challenge, especially in developing and underdeveloped countries.
Along the value chain of our businesses, we have different initiatives and products that helps address this. For individuals, this is purely technology-focused. We have built a virtual banking solution that eliminates barriers and reduces the cost and time of accessing financing. In addition, we will continue to use data to understand our customers and provide them with risk-based credit access.
Within the Group’s portfolio companies, we have three entities with a differentiated focus on creating access to credit for individuals and businesses, and emphasis on how important this is to us. We give loans to SMEs through our micro-finance bank while structured financing for larger corporates can be accessed from our bridge financing outfits. Hence, there is something for everyone.
Layered on this is our corporate banking portal which will be launched soon. In designing this, a large emphasis was placed on SMEs. Beyond financing, we are committed to providing end-to-end financial services and growth accelerators to business we work with.
What is your assessment of the first half economic performance, with emphasis on the financial markets?
The first half of 2021 was a mix of outcomes. The country officially came out of recession in the first quarter of 2021, while we have seen strong resistance to the pandemic across some sectors with growth in key indicators, particularly in banking and telecoms. However, these gains remain limited tempered by rising inflation, declining foreign reserves and further naira depreciation across official and parallel windows.
In the financial markets, we witnessed rising interest rate for T-bills, bonds and fixed income instruments. The capital market, however, has witnessed a six per cent decline year to date
Micro-lending is a global tool for poverty alleviation and empowerment. What has been your experience?
We have been in the micro-lending business since 2009 first with VFD Bridge using our Lagos State lending licence and now joined by our microfinance bank. From then till date, we have deepened our reach of clientele who can access micro-credit significantly. Particularly between 2019 and today, where we have grown from 3,000 customers to about 300,000, who can potentially access micro-credit on request. We have been able to provide credit to individuals and small businesses who, otherwise would not have had access to credit from mainstream financial institutions. This, in return, enables these businesses grow, while also creating more jobs for thousands of others.
That said, this is only one of the several means of poverty alleviation and the government needs to create more social programmes and an economic environment that ensures gains are sustained.
Nigeria’s national economic development programme revolves around diversification and job creation, what are your suggestions?
In addition to diversification of government revenue and job creation, bridging the infrastructure gap is also a front burner subject towards achieving our development goals. While the government continues to make progress in this regard, the pace of infrastructure needs to be sped up to achieve our goal.
Also, we have seen a gradual decline in oil contribution to gross domestic product (GDP), with growth, especially in the agricultural sector. However, the future is technology. Even in our agricultural sector, growth accelerator from this sector would need investment in tools to increase mechanised farming and general produce efficiency.
Still, on technology, we saw the emergence of India in the 90s to 2000s as a major exporter of tech-based solutions, services and personnel. In today’s increasingly global village, we continue to see the ascendance of Nigerians in the tech and software development phase. Government policies need to fully support this budding area of expertise for job creation and economic value realisation.
What’s your view on Nigeria’s debts?
Our debt profile is on the rise, and this is well documented. The bigger challenge is our ability to generate revenue. In 2020, about 97 per cent of government revenue was used to service existing debt stock. Hence the focus in the future should be on how to enhance our revenue, and how future debt utilisation must support actual economic growth.
How much of a risk does the foreign exchange constitute to the markets and economy?
Considering the importance of foreign inflows to our financial markets, foreign exchange stability and availability is an important indicator for the market and our economy.
Investors need assurances that there will not be capital or interest gain erosion at repatriation point or worse case, scarcity of forex as we saw in 2016 when companies could not repatriate funds to home country.
This stability also has the potential to affect the prices of goods and services, especially for products in the manufacturing value chain that relies on imported raw materials. This, alongside the increasing cost of outrightly imported items, can lead to inflation, a scenario we also saw between 2016-2017, when “imported inflation” accounted for the upward trend in headline inflation.
Subject to the availability of funds, USAID plans to provide $30 million over the next five years for this initiative.
In Liberia, the center will use research and build training capacity to address health system challenges. In Guatemala, a series of centers will focus on economic growth innovations, entrepreneurship, training, and capacity building to increase livelihoods and address the root causes of migration.
These two new awards add to the growing Higher Education Solutions Network portfolio at USAID focused on strengthening research systems in USAID partner countries.
As part of the Bringing Research to Impact for Development, Global Engagement, and Utilization (BRIDGE-U) program, Yale University, the University of Liberia College of Health Sciences, and Vanderbilt University will create the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Innovation (CTLI) in Liberia.
This $15 million project establishes a public-private-academic hub for research utilization in the Liberian health sector. Devastated by civil war, the Ebola epidemic, and now COVID-19, Liberia’s health system has dealt with severe resource constraints, shortages in healthcare workers, and other systemic challenges including gaps in evidence-based medical training and practices.
Through partnerships with public and private sector stakeholders, CTLI will advance evidence-based training for the health workforce, patient care, and health policy. It will also build local research capacity and advance the understanding for how and when research can be effectively translated into programs, policies, and practice in the health sector.
As part of the Building Research and Innovation for Development, Generating Evidence, and Training (BRIDGE-Train) program, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala (UVG), and the Guatemalan AGEXPORT association will expand the network of innovation and technology centers and launch the Achieving Sustainable Partnerships for Innovation, Research, and Entrepreneurship (ASPIRE) project.
This $15 million project will establish new innovation centers at two rural UVG satellite campuses. The Sololá campus in the Western Highlands serves Guatemala’s indigenous community, which also faces acute poverty and migration pressures.
Working together with the private sector, through AGEXPORT, ASPIRE will build capacity and capability to strengthen livelihoods, increase local innovation, and youth entrepreneurship, and employment, and through these efforts address one of the root causes of migration. Further, the award will work to connect research and policy to shape the enabling environment for such activities and act as a model for this approach throughout the region.
USAID has a long history of working with higher education institutions and these new projects continue that tradition by investing in partnerships between higher education institutions in the U.S. and in USAID partner countries. USAID helps strengthen local scientific and research capacity and establish higher education institutions in USAID partner countries as local sources of knowledge and innovation.
Through partnerships with private and public sector partners, these programs improve the use of research in decision-making, empowering local actors to address local development challenges using evidence-based solutions.
Prince Olusegun Adesegun is a Psychologist with a Masters’ Degree in Industrial Psychology from the University of Ibadan. He served and worked in Pyramid Products Limited as Manager in Training and rose to become the General Manager of the then Eastern Zone in 1988.
He retired and engaged in private business and has over time garnered experience in marketing administration, management, and supply chain logistics solutions. He eventually became the CEO of Pecol Ventures Limited – a cash crop export and paper products company where he transformed the company from a small producer to a large, world-class Agric-Export firm.
He combined his private business with public service to become Commissioner for Works and Housing in Ogun State twice, and later served as the Deputy Governor of Ogun State between 2011-2015.
He currently serves as a Career Counsellor and Consultant for high-quality investment decisions.
Adeyemi Adefarakan is a seasoned executive with strong global investment banking, portfolio risk, asset and financial management exposure. He graduated with a BSc (Hons) in Economics & Accountancy from the prestigious City University, London, and holds a Masters degree in International Securities, Investment & Banking from the acclaimed ICMA Centre at the University of Reading, U.K.
He is also an alumnus of the Emerging CFO: Strategic Financial Leadership Programme at Stanford Graduate School of Business, USA, and currently pursuing a Global CEO Africa Programme in the triumvirate of business
schools comprising of Lagos Business School, Strathmore Business School (Nairobi, Kenya) and Yale School of Management (Connecticut, USA).
Yemi currently serves as the Group Chief Financial Officer and an Executive Director on the board of CBSL (Continental Broadcasting Service Limited). He holds other boards positions where he continues to create and extract shareholder value through active board engagement.
Prior to joining CBSL, Yemi forged his career on the trading floors of some of London’s financial powerhouses, to with; State Street Global Markets, DRW Investments, JP Morgan Chase, Deutsche Bank and HSBC Global Asset Management, where he traded both vanilla and complex instruments and risk-managed multi-billion-dollar multiasset portfolios.
The appointments of Prince Olusegun Adesegun and Adeyemi Adefarakan have been approved by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
MoneyGram International has announced the closing of its previously announced private offering of $415 million aggregate principal amount of 5.375% senior secured notes due 2026 (the “notes”) and related guarantees (as defined below).
Substantially concurrently with the closing of the offering, the Company closed a new $400 million senior secured term loan, and also now has a new undrawn revolving facility of $32.5 million, both pursuant to a new credit agreement, dated as of July 21, 2021 (the “New Credit Agreement”), by and between the Company, as the borrower, the lenders from time to time party thereto, and Bank of America, N.A., as administrative agent.
The Company used the net proceeds from the offering and the closing of the term loan to prepay the full amount of first lien and second lien indebtedness under its existing senior secured credit facilities, and to pay related accrued interest, fees and expenses.
The notes are unconditionally guaranteed, jointly and severally, on a senior secured basis (collectively, the “guarantees”), initially by the Company’s subsidiaries that guarantee borrowings under the New Credit Agreement, and by certain future wholly-owned domestic subsidiaries (the “guarantors”).
The notes are secured, on an equal and ratable, first-priority basis with obligations under the New Credit Agreement by liens on substantially all of the assets of the Company and the guarantors, subject to certain exceptions and inter-creditor arrangements.
The notes and related guarantees were offered only to persons reasonably believed to be qualified institutional buyers in accordance with Rule 144A under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), and outside the United States to certain non-U.S. persons in compliance with Regulation S under the Securities Act.
The issuance and sale of the notes and related guarantees have not been, and will not be, registered under the Securities Act or the securities laws of any state or other jurisdiction, and the notes and related guarantees may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act and other applicable securities laws.
This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy the notes and related guarantees. Offers of the notes and related guarantees were made only by means of a private offering memorandum, and are not being made to any person in any jurisdiction in which such offer, sale or solicitation is unlawful.
Daimler AG today reported its results for the second quarter, which ended June 30, 2021.
The Group’s total unit sales increased by 36% to 736,400 passenger cars and commercial vehicles (Q2 2020: 541,800).
Revenue grew by 44% to €43.5 billion (Q2 2020: €30.2 billion). EBIT was €5,185 million (Q2 2020: minus €1,682 million). Adjusted EBIT, reflecting the underlying business, was €5,420 million (Q2 2020: minus €708 million). Net profit was €3,704 million (Q2 2020: net loss of €1,906 million).
“We achieved a strong performance across all divisions in the second quarter. At Mercedes-Benz Cars and Vans, we posted double-digit margins for the third quarter in a row and thus demonstrated the resilience of our business – despite the persistently low availability of semiconductors.
The entire industry is currently struggling with longer delivery times, which unfortunately also affect our customers. We are doing what we can to minimize the impact.
Given the high demand for our vehicles, delivery to our customers has top priority,” stated Ola Källenius, Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler AG and Mercedes-Benz AG.
“Our transformation towards emission-free and software-driven mobility is supported by a high level of free cash flow in the industrial business. We are implementing our strategy at full speed.”
Unilever Nigeria Plc., one of the leading players in the Nigerian Consumer Goods sector, specialized in the manufacturing and marketing of Food Products (FP), and Home & Personal Care products (HPC), released its unaudited financial statements for Half Year of 2021 on Friday, 16th of June, 2021.
Unilever Nigeria’s revenueincreased by 43% to ₦39.15 billion from ₦27.34 billion in the corresponding period 2020. The company was able to increase its revenue by transferring control over some of its products to a customer. Also, the company currently has 101 key distributors and each key distributor account for more than 10% of the company’s revenue.
Also, Unilever Nigeria experience a jump of 38% (from ₦21.18 billion in H1’2020 to ₦29.28 billion in H1’2021) in its Cost of Sales, and an increase also in its expense items such as; Selling and Distribution Expenses, soared by 34% (from ₦1.25 billion in H1’2020 to ₦1.68 billion in H1’2021), and Marketing & Administrative Expenses, surged by 36% (from ₦5.72 billion in H1’2020, to ₦7.80 billion in H1’2021), jointly driven by 87%, and 72% increase in Brand & Marketing, and Royalties & Service Fees respectively.
On the other hand, the Finance Cost increased as well by 780% to ₦45.47 million from ₦5.17 million in H1’2020, due to a decline in the interest rate on third party bank loans and increase in employee benefit charge, while the Finance income shrunk by 23% to ₦650.66 million from ₦849.35 in H1’2020, aided by 30% decline in net gain on remeasurement of foreign currency balances, and also 55% decline in Unwinding of the lease liability.
However, the Company’s Profit Before Tax (PBT) and Profit After Tax (PAT) soared by 209% and 197% to ₦619.55 million and ₦503.93 million, as against losses of ₦566.80 million and ₦519.11 million in the corresponding period of 2020.
Consequently, the Earnings Per Share (EPS), settled at ₦0.21 per share; representing a 175% increase as against a drop of ₦0.28 in H1’2021.
Going forward, we expect the company to extend its improved performance in 2021, which was impeded in 2020 due to COVID-19 and other anti-social activities in the country. Our position is based on favourable drivers such as increasing demand, and the company’s marketing strategy despite high inflation and FX.
Therefore, our target price for Unilever is ₦17.10, with an upside potential of 23.7%, to the closing price of ₦13.05 as of Monday, 19th July 2021.
The world’s largest social media platforms continued their impressive growth in 2021, with no signs of stopping in the years to come. Although Facebook still dominates the social media space with over 2.1 billion million active users, YouTube hit far more monthly visits than the world’s leading social media app.
55% More Visits than the World’s Leading Social Media App
Unsurprisingly, Google still convincingly tops the ranking of the most visited websites. In May, the search engine hit 90.9 billion visits, revealed the SimilarWeb data. Far below Google, YouTube ranked as the second-most visited website that month.
However, statistics show the video-sharing platforms had 55% more visits than the world’s leading social media app Facebook, which ranked third with 22.4 billion visits.
The World’s Most Popular Websites – Websites with the most visits in May 2021
Source: Statista, SimilarWeb
Twitter and Instagram round the top five list, with 6.7 billion and 6.3 billion visits in May. Wikipedia and the Chinese search engine baidu.com followed with 5.8 billion and 5.7 billion visits, respectively.
Compared to other social media platforms on this list, statistics show YouTube had five times more monthly visits than Twitter and 5.5 times more than Instagram.
YouTube to Hit 2.9 Billion Users by 2025
As the world’s second-largest social media platform, YouTube witnessed impressive user base growth over the years. In 2017, around 1.4 billion people worldwide had been using the video-sharing platform. By the end of 2019, this figure jumped to nearly 1.9 billion.
Statistics show that last year, YouTube’s user base hit over 2.1 billion. India accounted for the biggest share of that number, with 373 million users in 2020. The United States and Brazil followed with 205 million and 145 million users, respectively.
Statista data indicated the number of people using YouTube is set to jump to 2.24 billion in 2021 and continue growing to 2.56 billion in 2023, a 15% increase in two years. By 2025, this figure is forecast to touch nearly 2.9 billion.
Statistics also show that YouTube’s brand value hit $47.1bn in 2021, ranking as the seventh most valuable media and entertainment brand globally.
The ratings of Coronation Merchant Bank Limited (Coronation MB)reflect its adequate funding and liquidity position, and sound asset quality metrics, as evidenced by the nil non-performing loans (NPL) since inception to date. However, these strengths are partly offset by the bank’s modest competitive position, significant loan book concentration and heavy reliance on wholesale funding from financial institutions.
Coronation MB is a strong player within the Nigerian merchant banking subsector based on its product/service delivery, loan portfolio and deposit mobilisation capacity relative to peers.
Leveraging its long track record (having previously operated as a discount house for over two decades) and partnerships, the bank ensures consistent enhancement of its operational scale, particularly within the trade finance space.
Reflective of its relatively small customer base and the trends across the merchant banking subsector, elevated concentration risk is perceived, with the twenty largest obligors and depositors constituting 85.0% and 75.4% of gross loans and customer deposits respectively at FY20.
Coronation Merchant Bank
Also, the bank evidenced moderate market share within the Nigerian banking industry in terms of total assets, customer deposits, and loan portfolio, which is estimated at 0.8%, 0.7% and 0.7% respectively at FY20. Management & Governance is a neutral rating factor.
Capitalisation is assessed at an intermediate level. The GCR computed capital ratio registered at 17.6% at FY20 (FY19: 19.8%) and is expected to moderate to 16%-17% range over the next 12-18 months in view of the outpacing growth in risk-weighted assets vis-à-vis internal capital generation.
Earnings quality is considered ratings negative, reflected by revenue stability risk characterised by high source concentration and material exposure to market-sensitive income, which constituted a sizeable 42.5% of total operating revenue in FY20 (FY19: 41.3%).
Risk position is sound and a key rating strength, underpinned by the bank’s nil NPL since inception to date and moderate credit losses of 0.2% at FY20, which broadly compared favourably with the industry average of about 3%.
Initial assessments of the potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic indicated that the bank will not be immune to the sector-wide challenges, which include asset quality concerns and slower loan repayments. However, this impact has thus far remained minimal, with the bank making no recourse to regulatory forbearance during the period.
That said, we expect NPL and credit losses to remain at a similar strong range over the rating horizon on the back of sustenance of stringent underwriting criteria and the macroeconomic environment recoveries.
Conversely, the loan book is considered highly concentrated, with the top twenty obligors accounting for 85% of the loan book at FY20. While this is a rating constraining factor and typical of merchant banks in Nigeria, management expects this concentration to moderate somewhat over the short to medium term on account of the recent sectoral coverage expansion. GCR is also cognisant of the bank’s significant exposures to market risk considering the substantial market-sensitive income realised in FY20.
Coronation MB’s funding base is considered adequate, predominantly bolstered by the debut N25bn subordinated unsecured bonds issued during 2020, as well as its improved deposit mobilisation capacity.
As a result, the GCR long term funding ratio and stable funding ratio was robust at 80.8% and 73.1% respectively at FY20. While cognisance is taken of the sizeable (41.3%) growth in customer deposits in FY20, concentration risk is evident, with the top twenty depositors accounting for 75.4% of the deposit book, the bulk of which were from financial institutions.
Positively, liquidity position is solid, with the GCR liquid asset covering wholesale funding and customer deposits by 3.9x and 53.1% respectively at FY20.
GCR calculated capital ratio is anticipated to moderate to 16-17% range over the next 12-18 months given our expectation that the outpacing growth in risk-weighted assets vis-à-vis internal capital generation will continue to weigh down capitalisation metrics.
However, GCR will positively consider a material improvement in core earnings over the rating horizon. While we anticipate liquidity to remain sound, diversification of the deposit book with a better mix of non-financial institution clients would be positively considered.
Picodi analysis team examined the change in petrol prices in the first half of 2021 compared to the previous year and counted how many litres of petrol Nigerians can buy for the average wage.
The first half of 2021 was characterised by the gradual defrosting of the economy and an increase in petrol prices compared to the first half of 2020. In African countries, the highest price spikes were noted in Nigeria (+28.3%), Kenya (+18.1%), and South Africa (+12.1%).
In Nigeria, according to the Numbeo data, the average monthly net salary amounts to ₦71,942.16. It means that an average Nigerian can buy 431 litres of petrol for the average monthly wage (4th place). In the previous year, Nigerians could buy 539 litres of petrol for the average wage. The opposite trend was noted only in Egypt and Tunisia, where the average year to year petrol prices slightly decreased.
Petrol Index 2021: Nigeria sees the highest price spikes in Africa
Petrol Index 2021
In African countries, Algerians fill up petrol the cheapest – in this country, 1 litre of petrol costs $0.34. South Africa has the highest prices at $1.14 per 1 litre. In Nigeria, the average petrol price in the first half of 2021 was ₦166.80 or $0.42, which means it placed 2nd out of 7 considered countries.
This year, we checked again how many litres of petrol can be bought for the average wage in various African countries.
Petrol Index 2021: Nigeria sees the highest price spikes in Africa
For the third year in a row, the undefeated leader of the ranking is South Africa with 1,237 litres of petrol. Algeria and Kenya complete the podium with 742 and 437 litres respectively.
Lower in the ranking were countries such as Tunisia (414 litres), or Egypt (401 litres). Zambia took the last place with 214 litres.
Among 104 researched countries, the lowest petrol price was noted in Algeria ($0.34 per litre), and the highest price – in Hong Kong ($2.44 per litre).
In the global purchasing power ranking, the Gulf countries are consistently on the podium:
Qatar – 6,532 litres;
Saudi Arabia – 5,170 litres;
Kuwait – 5,158 litres.
Americans can buy 4,723 litres of petrol for the average wage, Australians – 4,128 litres, Canadians – 2,616 litres, and Russians – 938 litres.
The worst situation was noted in Cuba. In this country, 26 litres of petrol can be bought for the average wage (2 litres less than in the previous year). Only a little better were Tajikistan and Zambia, with 188 and 214 litres.
It is also worth looking at Venezuela. This country struggles with an unstable economic situation, yet maintained last year’s limits on petrol purchases. Each citizen can buy 120 litres of petrol for about $0.002 per litre. Once the limit is exceeded, the price of petrol increases to $0.50 per litre.
According to our calculations, the average wage in this country allows you to buy 230 litres of petrol (120 litres of subsidised and 110 litres in full price) which is 82 litres more than last year.
Petrol Index is an annual ranking of petrol prices to wages ratio, conducted by Picodi since 2019. This report uses the average net monthly wages according to the latest available data provided by offices for national statistics or relevant ministries. In some countries, where official wage statistics are not available, we used information from Numbeo.
The average prices for the first half of 2021 in 104 countries are based on data from globalpetrolprices.com and other local sources. In order to obtain the number of litres, we divided the average wage by the average price of 1 litre of petrol. For currency conversion, we used the Google Finance average exchange rate for the last 90 days.
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