Business
PH Traders List Post-Recession Expectations
Traders in Port Harcourt have listed their expectations following the announcement of Nigeria’s official recovery from economic recession.
The traders told our correspondent in Port Harcourt last Wednesday that they were happy about the news of Nigeria’s exit from recession, describing it as cheering.
The traders listed fall in the prices of goods and services, better living standard and infrastructural development as their post-recession expectations.
Our Correspondent spoke with traders at Nkpolu Oroworukwo, Rumuwoji and Creek Road markets in Port Harcourt and they all expressed their happiness with the development.
Mrs Florence Onuegbu said that as a trader, she wants to feel the impact of the economic leap through fall in the prices of goods and services.
“I understand recession to mean economic hardship, if they say recession is no more with us, I want to see the prices of goods and services fall,’’ she said.
Another trader, James Igonikor, said that he looked forward to better standard of living for the ordinary people.
According to him, the end to recession should trigger a more robust infrastructural development that would benefit the ordinary citizens.
“Nigerians have been facing difficulties for several months, so with the news about Nigeria exiting recession, we are expecting the standard of living to improve,’’ he said.
Another trader, Mrs Nneka Amadichi said that the news about Nigeria quitting recession would only make sense to the ordinary citizen if the standard of living improved.
According to her, it will be meaningless if the citizenry still live in pains after the recovery from recession.
Meanwhile, a Port Harcourt-based social analyst, Dr Tonteh Amakiri has called on the government to ensure effective price control following the recovery from recession.
He said that such move would enable the ordinary citizen to benefit from the buoyant economy, adding that ordinary citizen will not feel the recovery if prices of food and other items are still high.
“We have a system where traders are not willing to reduce prices, they need to be coerced to do so, government must come all out to achieve this,’’ he said.
Our correspondent reports that the Federal Government last Tuesday announced Nigeria’s official recovery from recession.
Cornerstone of Financial Services
A survey of more than 1 000 global finance leaders undertaken by digital payment network Ripple shows that 72% of respondents believe they need to offer a digital asset solution to remain competitive.
According to Ripple, leaders from the banking, fintech, corporate and asset management sector have made it clear that the “digital asset revolution is happening now”.
“Digital assets are quickly becoming a cornerstone of financial services, underpinned by progressive regulation, growing interest from Tier-1 banks, a steady consumer shift from banks to fintech providers, and booming stablecoin adoption,” Ripple says.
The survey was conducted in early 2026 and the findings released in March.
Stablecoin Boon or Bane?
Ripple has experienced significant success in the stablecoin sector since launching its Ripple USD (RLUSD) stablecoin in 2024.
With a market cap of $1.56 billion, it is considered a major regulated player in the market.
No doubt the platform was pleased to learn through its own survey that financial leaders were most bullish about stablecoins.
Roughly three-quarters of respondents believed they could boost cash-flow efficiency and unlock trapped working capital.
Ripple noted that finance leaders were thinking about stablecoins as more than “just a new way to execute payments”; instead, they viewed them as effective tools for treasury management.
In March 2026, Ripple began testing a new trade finance model built around RLUSD in a bid to increase the speed of cross-border payments.
The pilot initiative, developed alongside supply chain finance company Unloq [https://unloq.com], is running on the XRP Ledger inside a testing framework developed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
The Asian city-state is one of the platform’s biggest growth markets.
The idea behind the project is to see whether stablecoin-based settlement can streamline trade finance, too often hampered by reliance on intermediaries and slow reconciliation.
The only potential drawback is that if the initiative takes off, the Ripple to USD price could be negatively affected.
Ripple has always championed its native XRP token as a bridge asset, the “middleman” in the process of a financial institution turning dollars in the US into pounds in the UK, for example.
Ripple converts dollars into XRP and then back into pounds.
If RLUSD can do exactly the same thing, questions will be asked about XRP’s relevance.
That is a bridge Ripple will have to cross if it gets to that point.
Tokenisation Partners
Another interesting finding from Ripple’s survey is that most banks and asset managers are seeking tokenisation partners to help execute their strategies.
Some 89% of respondents said digital asset storage and custody were top priority. “Token servicing/lifecycle management also ranks highly for banks at 82%, while asset managers place greater emphasis on primary distribution at 80%,” Ripple found.
The survey also revealed that just more than half of fintechs and financial institutions want an infrastructure provider that can offer a “one-stop-shop solution”. This rose to 71% among corporate financial leaders.
Ripple attributes this to institutions and firms wanting uncomplicated, cohesive systems.
Infrastructure Rules
In its final analysis, Ripple says companies across the board are looking for partners and solutions that are “secure, compliant, battle-tested and that enable growth and execution”.
“The message is clear: infrastructure decisions made today will shape competitive positioning tomorrow.”
No surprise that this is precisely where Ripple is placing much of its focus.
