Banks loan portfolio between May and December 2019 grew by N2trn—CBN

Ruth Eshio

Central Bank of Nigeria’s monetary policy committee has said that banks created N2 trillion new loans in the last six months. The apex bank made this claim in its monetary policy communique. Commenting on developments in the banking sector, the regulator expressed “delight” in the increase in lending to the private sector since it introduced its policy on loan to deposit ratios (LDR).

“The Committee observed with delight that over the last six months, aggregate credit grew by N2.0 trillion and urged the Management of the Bank to sustain the current momentum of improved flow of credit to the Private Sector while exploring other options with the fiscal authorities to strengthen the legal framework for the enforcement of credit recovery.” Bank’s non-performing loan ratios also dropped from 6.6% to 6.1%, according to excerpts from the communique.

Sectors listed by CBN that benefited from the new credit across the private  sector between May and December 2019 are manufacturing (N446.44 billion); general retail and consumer loans (N419.02 billion); general commerce (N248.48 billion); agriculture, forestry, and fishing (N160.94 billion); information and communications (N156.47 billion); finance and insurance (N129.87 billion); construction (N86.54 billion); and transportation and Storage (N68.61 billion), amongst others. “Credit to the Private Sector also grew to 13.1 per cent in December 2019, from 12.82 per cent in the previous month”.