The naira rose further on Monday in the parallel section of the foreign exchange (FX) market.

At the Lagos street market, currency traders, also known as bureau de change (BDC) operators, quoted the naira at N1,100 to the greenback.

The traders put the buying price of the dollar at N1,070 and the selling price at N1,100 — leaving a profit margin of N30.

The figure represents an appreciation of N50 or 4.34 percent from the N1,150/$ it traded on April 12.

At the FMDQ Exchange, a platform that oversees official foreign exchange (FX) trading in Nigeria, the local currency rose by 5.72 percent or N69.02 to N1,136.04/$ on Monday — from N1,205.06/$ on April 12.

Tesla will lay off 10 percent of its global workforce as demand for electric vehicles (EV) falls.

According to a Bloomberg report on Monday, Elon Musk communicated the retrenchment in a memo sent to workers at the automotive company.

Musk cited duplication of roles and the need to reduce costs as reasons for the cutback.

“As we prepare the company for our next phase of growth, it is extremely important to look at every aspect of the company for cost reductions and increasing productivity,” Musk wrote.

“As part of this effort, we have done a thorough review of the organization and made the difficult decision to reduce our headcount by more than 10 per cent globally. There is nothing I hate more, but it must be done.”

Responding to a comment on the planned layoff on X, Musk said “about every five years, we need to reorganize and streamline the company for the next phase of growth”.

If the cuts apply companywide, the dismissal would amount to more than 14,000 employees, the publication noted.

Tesla ended 2023 with 140,473 employees — nearly double its workforce three years ago.

The decision to lay off workers comes as Tesla faces declining sales and an intensifying price war for EVs.

According to the publication, Tesla announced that vehicle deliveries early this month missed expectations by a wide margin — posting its first quarterly decline in four years.

“Several analysts are bracing for the EV maker’s sales to potentially shrink for the year, citing slow output of its newest model — the Cybertruck — and a lull in new products until the company starts producing a next-generation vehicle late next year,” the publication said.

“The EV slowdown Tesla has felt of late has been widespread. China’s BYD Co. delivered just 300,114 battery-electric vehicles in the first quarter, down 43 per cent from the final three months of last year, when it briefly pulled ahead as the world’s top EV seller.”

Manufacturers including Volkswagen AG, General Motors Co., and Ford Motor Co. have delayed, dialled back or altogether scrapped EV projects as customers protest high prices and a scarcity of charging points.

Nigeria’s inflation rate rose to 33.20 percent in Mach 2024 — up from 31.70 percent in February.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) disclosed this in its consumer price index (CPI) report, which measures the rate of change in prices of goods and services, on Monday.

According to the bureau, food inflation also surged to 40.01 percent in the month under review.

NBS said the March headline inflation rate showed an increase of “1.50% points when compared to the February 2024 headline inflation rate”.

“On a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 11.16% points higher compared to the rate recorded in March 2023, which was 22.04%,” he said.

“This shows that the headline inflation rate (year-on-year basis) increased in the month of March 2024 when compared to the same month in the preceding year (i.e., March 2023).

“Furthermore, on a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in March 2024 was 3.02%, which was 0.10% lower than the rate recorded in February 2024 (3.12%).

“This means that in the month of March 2024, the rate of increase in the average price level is less than
the rate of increase in the average price level in February 2024.”

FOOD PRICES IS MAJOR CONTRIBUTOR TO INFLATION RATE

The NBS report further showed that the food inflation rate in March 2024 was 40.01 percent on a year-on-year basis – an increase of 15.56 percent points higher compared to the 24.45 percent rate recorded in March 2023.

NBS said the rise in food inflation on a year-on-year basis was caused by an increase in prices of garri, millet, bread and cereal, yam, dried fish, meat, and fruits.

“On a month-on-month basis, the Food inflation rate in March 2024 was 3.62% which shows a 0.17% decrease compared to the rate recorded in February 2024 (3.79%),” the bureau said.

“The fall in food inflation on a month-on-month basis was caused by a fall in the rate of increase
in the average prices of Guinea corn flour, Plantain Flour, etc (under Bread and Cereals
class), Yam, Irish Potatoe, Coco Yam (under Potatoes, Yam & Other Tubers class), Titus
fish, Mudfish Dried (under Fish class), Lipton, Bournvita, Ovaltine (under Coffee, Tea, and Cocoa class).

“The average annual rate of Food inflation for the twelve months ending March 2024 over
the previous twelve-month average was 31.40%, which was 8.69% points increase from
the average annual rate of change recorded in March 2023 (22.72%).”

The report also said Kogi, Kwara, and Akwa Ibom states spent more on food in March.