Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has agreed in principle to write off 30 percent of domestic airlines' debts to aviation agencies to stabilize the country's aviation sector.
The move follows high-level talks with airlines, which had warned they would halt operations due to soaring jet fuel prices.
"No airline in this country will fly in the next seven days if something is not done. Not because they don't want to fly, but because the pricing not only of our tickets, but the pricing of the fuel product that we need to fly in the first place may not be available to us, because we don't have the money," said Allen Onyema, CEO of Air Peace.
Rising aviation fuel costs are no longer just an airline problem. They're spilling into the broader economy, pushing up transport expenses for businesses and ultimately the prices of goods for consumers.
For business owners, who rely on air travel to move across cities, the impact is immediate and unavoidable.
"It's definitely going to affect everybody, down to those who don't even fly. Because if, for example, I'm going to bring products from a place like Lagos down to Abuja, of course, I'm going to build in the excess that comes from the cost of my transport. I'm going to build it into the sales. So, it's going to affect everybody," said Qlaypole Edache Ochola, chairman of BIUSPHOROUS Creative Communications.
Meanwhile, regulators are stepping in to prevent a breakdown in the aviation sector, as soaring jet fuel costs continue to strain both airlines and fuel marketers.
They insist efforts are now focused on finding a balance that keeps operators in business while easing the pressure across the value chain.
"We would not like to see a situation where the airlines will shut down. In as much as we want the airlines to run, we also want the marketers to continue doing their business. So, we have to have to reach midway, and this is a very, very urgent matter that has to be dealt with," said Saidu Aliyu Mohammed, CEO of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority.
In order to prevent disruptions and to maintain stability in the sector, the government is offering financial relief to ease pressure on airlines, targeting the backlog of debts owed to aviation agencies.
"Regarding the discounts to be given to the airlines from the debts they owe to the aviation agencies, Mr. President has definitely approved a 30-percent discount," said Festus Keyamo, Nigeria's Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development.
For Africa's largest economy, where air travel remains key to business and regional movement, the stakes are high.
Experts say any prolonged disruption could ripple beyond the aviation sector, affecting trade, investment, and connectivity across the country.
Nigeria offers debt relief to airlines facing fuel crisis
Chinese stock markets dropped on Monday, as AI and tech stocks continued to see-saw, according to China Global Television Network (CGTN) market analyst Timothy Pope.
The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index closed down 0.59 percent at 3,882.01 points, with the Shenzhen Component Index, which has more exposure to the tech sector, closing 2.13 percent lower at 13,794.29 points.
Trading volumes on the two indices rose with around 2.01 trillion yuan (about 296.28 billion U.S. dollars) traded on Monday, up from 1.88 trillion yuan (about 280 billion U.S. dollars) last Friday.
Traditional sectors such as precious metals, coal mining, and insurance led the gains, while bio-tech stocks were among the top decliners.
The ChiNext Index, tracking China's Nasdaq-style board of growth enterprises, lost 3.21 percent to close at 3,431.89 points on Monday.
The STAR Composite Index, which tracks the performance of stocks on China's sci-tech innovation board, closed 3.10 percent lower on Monday at 1,896.16 points.
"The A-share markets seem locked in this cycle of rally and rout for those growth stocks, particularly in the AI and adjacent sectors. Today was very much on the rout side so, while the Shanghai Composite Index was down 0.6 percent, we saw the Shenzhen Component down more than 2 percent, the ChiNext board was down 3.2 percent and the STAR 50 down 3.1 percent. Those last three are more exposed to the tech rally than the Shanghai Composite. The big losers as I said were AI hardware companies - Shenzhen Gongjin Electronics was down 10 percent, Zhongji Innolight fell more than 7 percent. But they weren't alone because the other big winning sector of the last few weeks - biotech - was in retreat today as well. Investors were rotating into gold and coal stocks as well, and agricultural stocks extended the food security trade rally that we saw at the end of last week. There were a number of stocks across those sectors, all of those were hitting the upper limits of trade today," said Pope.
Pope said the rest of the week will be dominated by earnings reports from some of China’s biggest companies.
"The rest of the week is going to be mostly about earnings. The end-of-August filing deadline is fast approaching. Friday will be a really big day on the earnings calendar. We've got BYD, PetroChina, Shenhua Energy and a lot of big banks as well. Earnings that we are going to see for ICBC, China Merchants Bank and others will give us an insight into how much pressure the big banks are under with their margins. BYD is also going to be an interesting one in light of the government's anti-involution campaign and its efforts to avert a bit of a race to the bottom in the EV sector. And before we get there, there are Nvidia results in the US on Wednesday which will doubtless impact every stock in the AI space," he said.
Chinese stock markets start week lower on AI volatility: analyst
