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Bank lending to economy hits N17.2tn

By on March 25, 2015

Aggregrate banking system credit to the domestic economy rose by 7.1 per cent to N17.2tn in January, the Central Bank of Nigeria’s latest monthly economic report released on Monday indicated.

This was in contrast to the growth of 1.5 per cent recorded at the end of December 2014.

The CBN report, however, stated that the growth in aggregate banking sector credit to the domestic economy as of January 2014 was 7.2 per cent.

The report read in part, “At N17.2tn, aggregate banking system credit to the domestic economy at end-January 2015 rose by 7.1 per cent on month-on-month basis, compared with the growth of 7.2 per cent at the end of the corresponding period of 2014, but was in contrast to the 1.5 per cent decline at end-December 2014. The development reflected, largely, the 55.4 per cent increase in (net) claims on the Federal Government.

“Banking system’s credit (net) to the Federal Government, on month-on-month basis, rose by 55.4 per cent to negative N899.7bn, compared with the growth of 71.1 per cent at the end of the corresponding month of 2014, but was in contrast to the 15.4 per cent decline at the end of the preceding month. The development reflected largely the increase in the banking system’s holdings of government securities

“At N18.1tn, the banking system’s credit to the private sector increased by 0.2 per cent over the preceding month’s level, compared with the 0.1 per cent increase at the end of the preceding month. The development reflected wholly the 0.3 per cent rise in credit to the core private sector.”

The report also revealed that foreign assets in the banking system fell by 12.5 per cent to N6.4tn in January.

The decrease was in contrast to an increase of 2.4 per cent recorded at the end of the preceding month.

The central bank, however, attributed the development to the 24.5 per cent decline in the banks and the CBN holdings, respectively.

The report stated, “At N6.4tn, foreign assets (net) of the banking system fell By 12.5 per cent at end-January 2015 in contrast to the increase of 2.4 per cent at the end of the preceding month. The development was attributed to the 24.5 and 10.7 per cent decline in the banks and CBN holdings, respectively.

“Other assets (net) of the banking system, on a month-on-month basis, declined by 3.7 per cent to negative N6.9tn, in contrast to the 3.1 per cent growth recorded at the end of the preceding month. The development reflected largely the fall in unclassified assets of the CBN in the review period.”

The central bank report also showed that federally-collected revenue in January this year was N710bn.

The figure was above the receipts in the preceding month and the corresponding period of 2014 by 4.6 and 4.3 per cent, respectively.

The CBN attributed the increase relative to receipts in the preceding month to the respective increase of 3.9 and 6.2 per cent in gross oil and non-oil revenue during the review period.

 

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