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The presidential committee on fiscal policy and tax reforms says there is a need to increase the value-added tax (VAT) rate, The Cable is reporting.

Taiwo Oyedele, chairman of the committee, spoke on Monday while disclosing the VAT revenue-sharing formula would be reviewed. He spoke at a policy exposure and impact assessment session organised by the committee.

Nigeria’s VAT rate is currently 7.5 percent. Oyedele also said the committee has proposed reviewing state and local governments’ share of VAT revenue to 90 percent. According to section 40 of the VAT Act, the federal government gets 15 percent of the tax revenue, states share 50 percent, and local governments share the balance of 35 percent.

However, Oyedele said the committee is recommending reducing the federal government’s share from 15 percent to 10 percent. “We are proposing that the federal government’s portion should be reduced from 15 percent to 10 percent. States’ portion will be increased but they would share 90 percent with local governments,” he said.

Oyedele said the committee proposed adjusting the sharing formula for VAT because it is a tax of the states. “In 1986, we had sales tax collected by states. The military came up with VAT in 1993 and stopped sales tax so they said it would collect VAT and return 15 per cent as cost of collection and that is the 15 per cent charged today came about. But we think it is too much,” he said.

The tax expert added that the burden of VAT should be on the ultimate consumer. “So we must make it transparent and neutral and this is what over 100 countries where they have VAT are doing. Nigeria’s economy is more than 50 percent in services and if I just stop at this, many states will be broke because VAT collection will go down by more than 50 percent and it won’t even fly. [Swipe]

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Major U.S. equities indexes were mixed and little changed on Tuesday.

The S&P 500 edged 0.1% higher, keeping a streak of positive sessions dating back to the middle of last week amid renewed anticipation that the Federal Reserve could lower interest rates in the next few months. The Dow also eked out a gain of around 0.1%, but the tech-heavy Nasdaq slipped 0.1%.

Shares of FMC Corp. (FMC) led the S&P 500, popping 9.5% after the agricultural sciences company issued better-than-expected full-year revenue guidance.

The provider of insecticides and other agricultural chemicals expects new products to drive robust revenue growth, the company said. FMC is also positioned to benefit from lower input costs, reduced interest expenses, and cost-saving initiatives.

International Flavors and Fragrances (IFF) shares jumped 6.4%. The stock soared after the provider of ingredients for food, beverage, and personal care products reported better-than-expected first-quarter revenue and earnings per share (EPS).

Volume growth and productivity gains helped drive the strong performance, and the company highlighted successful measures to optimize its portfolio, including the divestment of its cosmetics ingredients business.

Shares of Kenvue (KVUE), the consumer health products business that completed its spinoff from Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) last year, gained 6.4% after the company's first-quarter profits exceeded expectations.

Home to Tylenol, Listerine, and other well-known brands, Kenvue achieved strong sales growth in its self-care and essential care segments. The firm also announced plans to cut around 4% of its workforce as it aims to reduce costs.

Shares of Builders FirstSource (BLDR) posted the steepest losses of any S&P 500 stock, tumbling 19.1% in the wake of the building materials supplier's first-quarter earnings report.

Although quarterly sales topped forecasts, net income fell short of estimates, and a shift in product mix toward lower-margin products contributed to a year-over-year drop in gross profit margin. Builders FirstSource also faces challenges related to higher mortgage rates limiting affordability and softness in the multi-family housing market.

Disney (DIS) shares dropped 9.5% on Tuesday after the entertainment giant reported a quarterly net loss, reflecting the impact of hefty restructuring costs and other impairment charges.

Despite reporting a surprise profit in its direct-to-consumer entertainment segment, Disney provided a weak growth outlook for subscriptions and experiences. It does not expect core subscriber growth for the Disney+ streaming service during the current quarter.

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Crocs (CROX) shares gained more than 7% Tuesday as the footwear maker posted record sales and boosted its guidance on “robust consumer demand" for its eponymous shoe brand.

The company reported first-quarter diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $2.50, up 4.6% from the year-ago period, with revenue up 6.2% to $939 million. Both were well above analyst estimates compiled by Visible Alpha. Direct-to-consumer (DTC) revenue increased 11.8%. The company's gross margin rose to 55.6% from 53.9%.

North American sales were 9% higher at $383 million, while international sales soared 21.3% to $361 million.

Sales for the Crocs brand gained 14.6% to $744 million. However, the company reported its Heydude brand sales dropped 17.2% to $195 million, and CEO Andrew Rees said that because of that, the company was reducing the brand’s revenue expectations for the rest of the year. It now expects Heydude sales to decline 8% to 10%. In February, the company had predicted they would be flat to slightly up.

Despite that change, the company now sees full-year adjusted EPS in the range of $12.25 to $12.73, compared with the previous outlook of $12.05 to $12.50.

Crocs also announced Susan Healy would become its new CFO beginning June 3. She’ll replace Anne Mehlman, who was recently appointed president of the Crocs brand. Healy previously served as CFO at auto auction site Insurance Auto Auctions (IAA).

Crocs shares finished 7.8% higher at $136.49 Tuesday, and have added about 46% for 2024 so far.

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The spot price of gold was 0.4% lower at $2,315.52 per ounce as of 3 p.m. ET Tuesday as the U.S. dollar gained on the pound and yen, with comments by several Federal Reserve officials that could give hints as to the future of interest rates in focus.

Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President Neel Kashkari said Tuesday it could be likely that interest rates would linger at their current 23-year high levels for “an extended period of time.” Kashkari indicated he expects inflation to move “sideways” for a while, pushing the Fed to hold rates steady. Worries about when the Fed might cut rates could negatively impact the price of gold.

Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Thomas Barkin said yesterday he sees the U.S. economy slowing, which should ease inflation further. He added that recent volatility in economic data supported the Fed’s decision to take its time on lowering borrowing costs.

Speeches are scheduled this week from a number of other Fed speakers as well. In addition, the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index will be released on Friday, giving a glimpse of how consumers feel about inflation and where it’s heading. 

Despite Tuesday’s slide, the price of gold remained close to 12% higher for 2024 so far.

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The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has suspended charges on cash deposits until September 30, 2024.

The apex bank disclosed this in a circular dated May 6, 2024, signed by Adetona Adedeji, CBN’s director of banking supervision.

On May 1, banks resumed the collection of processing fees on cash deposits. Based on the directive, 2 percent was to be charged on deposits above N500,000 for individuals, while corporate account holders were to be charged 3 percent on deposits above N3,000,000.

According to the latest circular to financial institutions and non-financial institutions, CBN said the processing fees have been suspended. “Please refer to our letter dated December 11, 2023, referenced BSD/DIR/PUB/LAB/016/023 on the above subject, suspending processing charges imposed on cash deposits above N500,000 for Individuals and N3,000,000 for Corporates as contained in the “Guide to Charges by Banks, Other Financial Institutions and Non-Bank Financial Institutions” issued on December 20, 2019,” CBN said.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) hereby extends the suspension of the processing fees of 2% and 3% previously charged on all cash deposits above these thresholds until September 30, 2024.”

CBN directed financial institutions to continue to accept all cash deposits from the public without any charges till the end of the third quarter.

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U.S. equities were higher at midday following the latest earnings news and ahead of more data that could impact the Federal Reserve's stance on the future of interest rates. The Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq all gained.

Kenvue (KVUE) shares jumped as the consumer health products maker spun off from Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) posted better-than-expected profit and announced layoffs as it moved to cut costs.

Shares of International Paper (IP) also took off following a report that Brazilian pulp producer Suzano is offering almost $15 billion to buy the firm.

Fidelity National Information Services (FIS) shares rose as the financial technology firm beat earnings estimates and raised its guidance and share repurchase program. 

Walt Disney (DIS) shares sank as the entertainment giant reported a net loss caused by billions in restructuring and other impairment charges and gave a soft outlook for subscribers and experiences, though Disney reported a surprise profit in its direct-to-consumer entertainment segment.

Shares of Palantir Technologies (PLTR) slumped after the artificial intelligence (AI) software maker’s outlook failed to impress. Similar concerns affected Datadog (DDOG), as the cloud monitoring and security firm’s shares fell despite better-than-expected results for the first quarter. Datadog also announced President Amit Agarwal was stepping down.

Ferrari (RACE) shares fell after the luxury car maker's shipped vehicles were roughly flat in the first quarter, even as earnings topped expectations.

Oil futures advanced and gold prices fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note tumbled. The U.S. dollar gained versus the pound and yen, but slipped against the euro. Trading in most major cryptocurrencies was mixed.

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