Stanbic IBTC Bank's Nigeria PMI slipped to 55.7 in October from 56.4, a ninth month of expansion, as higher fuel costs pushed purchase and selling prices up. The Black Executive Journal — Daily Edition
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MTN GroupPublic company · Johannesburg, South Africa · JSE: MTN · Led by Ralph Mupita (CEO)
The Stanbic IBTC Bank Nigeria Purchasing Managers' Index fell to 55.7 in October from 56.4 in September, Stanbic IBTC Bank and S&P Global reported on Nov 2. Any reading above 50.0 signals better business conditions than the month before.
October's figure still points to a marked improvement at the start of the fourth quarter (Stanbic IBTC Bank / S&P Global — Nov 2, 2026).
The survey found that the fourth quarter began much as the third ended, with sharp rises in new orders and business activity. Job creation stayed muted: firms said they kept up with workloads by running at full capacity rather than adding staff (Stanbic IBTC Bank / S&P Global — Nov 2, 2026).
Prices are the warning sign. Higher fuel costs remained a key feature of the survey and produced sharper increases in both purchase costs and selling prices (Stanbic IBTC Bank / S&P Global — Nov 2, 2026).
Muyiwa Oni, Head of Equity Research West Africa at Stanbic IBTC Bank, said in the release that business conditions had "remained in the expansionary territory for the ninth consecutive month" while easing to 55.7.
The survey covers agriculture, manufacturing, services, and wholesale and retail. It is the first private-sector reading for October, and the CBN will have it in hand before its 308th Monetary Policy Committee meeting on Nov 23–24 (Central Bank of Nigeria MPC calendar).
Demand in Nigeria is holding up.
New orders and output are still rising sharply, but the gains come from existing capacity, not new jobs, and fuel costs are flowing straight into prices.
SMEs that sell to households have a narrow window: they can pass on costs while demand lasts, but the CBN may respond to faster price growth. Diaspora investors in Nigerian consumer, logistics and distribution businesses should test margins against another round of fuel-driven cost increases, and lock in supplier pricing before the Nov 23–24 decision.
US manufacturing grew for the 10th month in a row in October. The ISM Manufacturing PMI reached 55.5%, up 1 percentage point from 54.5% in September, according to the Institute for Supply Management.
The wider economy expanded for the 24th straight month (ISM — Nov 2, 2026).
The Production Index rose 2.3 points to 59%, its highest since November 2021 (60.5%). The New Orders Index edged up to 55.5% from 55.3%. The Employment Index slipped 0.3 points to 52.4%, and the Backlog of Orders Index fell to 54.6% from 56.4%.
Inventories returned to growth at 51.4%. Customers' inventories stayed "too low" at 41.6%, which ISM usually reads as a positive sign for future production (ISM — Nov 2, 2026).
The Prices Index registered 75.2%, down 2.7 points from September's 77.9% but still deep in increasing territory. Supplier deliveries slowed for the 11th month, at 59.1%.
Respondent sentiment worsened for a third month: 34% of comments were positive and 66% negative. Among the negative comments, 62% cited pricing volatility, 41% longer lead times, 25% tariffs and 21% the Iran war (ISM — Nov 2, 2026).
New Export Orders rose to 51.2% and Imports to 52.9% (ISM — Nov 2, 2026).
Factory output is at a five-year high while input prices stay above 75, a mix that keeps inflation risk alive ahead of Friday's October payrolls. Employment growth slowed even as production rose, which means plants are getting more from existing staff.
Black-owned suppliers and contract manufacturers should expect longer lead times and pricing volatility in purchase orders, and build price-adjustment clauses into contracts now.
The US and Nigerian surveys show the same pattern: strong demand, weak hiring and energy-driven costs.
Nigerian cross-border fintech Grey has received an International Money Transfer Operator (IMTO) licence from the Central Bank of Nigeria, Condia reported.
The licence lets a company receive money sent from abroad and pay it out in naira, but it covers inbound transfers only.
Grey says it serves more than 3 million users in 70 countries. It is also registered with FinCEN in the US and FINTRAC in Canada (Condia — Nov 2, 2026).
The market is crowded.
The CBN's list of approved IMTOs stood at 108 in 2025, up from 15 about a decade earlier. The increase followed revised CBN guidelines in January 2024 that cut minimum capital for foreign IMTOs to $1 million from about $12.8 million.
The same guidelines raised the application fee to ₦10 million and added an annual renewal fee of the same amount (Condia — Nov 2, 2026).
The licence follows Grey's Oct 29 launch of Paycheck, a product for professionals earning in foreign currencies.
Telecom-led fintech in Nigeria had a weaker quarter.
MTN Nigeria's fintech revenue fell 25.91% to ₦97.5 billion ($72.42 million) in the nine months to September 2026, TechCabal's analysis of the company's results shows. The decline followed MTN's suspension of its Xtratime airtime-and-data credit service from Apr 16 to meet Nigeria's lending rules.
Fintech revenue recovered 78.5% quarter on quarter in Q3, but still made up only 2.11% of total revenue of ₦4.61 trillion (TechCabal — Nov 2, 2026).
MoMo PSB moved to a new Alipay+ platform in August. Monthly active users reached 3.2 million, and wallet balances more than quadrupled to ₦43.8 billion from December 2025. MTN expects to restore the credit service to target levels by end-November.
The planned separation of the fintech business, with MTN Group taking 60% and MTN Nigeria keeping 40%, still awaits regulatory approval (TechCabal — Nov 2, 2026).
Regulation now shapes Nigerian fintech more than distribution does.
A direct IMTO licence lets Grey compete for the inbound diaspora remittance flow. MTN's results show how quickly lending-rule compliance can cut a quarter's revenue.
Diaspora senders get more licensed channels and pressure on fees. Founders face higher fixed costs to stay licensed, which favours well-capitalised operators with multi-market registrations.
The Caribbean Development Bank has financed more than US$700,000 in support for five Commonwealth events in Antigua and Barbuda around the 2026 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).
The five are the Business, Women, Youth and People Forums and the Disability Symposium. A delegation led by President Daniel M. Best is attending the meetings, which run from Nov 1 to 5 (Caribbean Development Bank — Nov 2, 2026).
The CDB says it will argue that resilience should be financed as a productive economic asset.
It will push for guarantees, risk-sharing, co-financing and regional investment platforms to bring private capital into small-state economies, and for international finance to give more weight to vulnerability. "Small states should not be defined only by their exposure to risk. They are credible investment markets," Best said (Caribbean Development Bank — Nov 2, 2026).
As Gold Sponsor of the Business Forum, the bank will lead a main-stage plenary bringing together governments, investors and businesses. Vice-President (Operations) Dr Isaac Solomon said the focus is "moving from policy ambition to implementation."
His approach combines project preparation, guarantees, concessional finance and private capital to build pipelines that are scalable and ready to deliver (Caribbean Development Bank — Nov 2, 2026).
The bank will also lead consultations on a draft Caribbean Disability Inclusion Action Plan, and bring civil society input into its first Civil Society Engagement and Partnership Strategy (Caribbean Development Bank — Nov 2, 2026).
The CDB is treating CHOGM as a deal-origination forum, not just a policy summit. Its stress on guarantees and risk-sharing tells private investors where it wants to absorb risk.
Caribbean and diaspora operators with projects ready to finance — in infrastructure, resilience retrofits or enterprise platforms — should approach CDB teams in St. John's this week, while the bank is pitching the region's investment pipeline to Commonwealth capital.
Disclaimer: This report is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Consult a licensed advisor before making investment decisions.
