Bank’s credit to economy soars by N3.3tn in one month –CBN 

The total exposure of banks to the economy ballooned by N3.3 trillion at the end of June compared to the corresponding period of May, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said.

Specifically, banks’ credit portfolio stood at N15.56 trillion by May but swelled by 21.5% to 18.9 trillion last month.

Godwin Emefiele, the CBN chief made the disclosure Monday at the declaration of the resolutions of the apex bank’s Monetary Policy Committee meeting in Abuja, noting that retaining the existing lending rate would enable it oversee the wholesale effects of the monetary policy across the economy.

Manufacturing, information and communication, general commerce, agriculture and consumer credit ranked among the economic segments that benefitted most from the credit, Mr Emefiele said.

Net domestic credit expanded by a margin of 5.16 per cent in June relative to the 7.14 per cent reported the month before.

He avowed that the CBN had allocated more than N152.9 billion to bankroll 61 manufacturing projects just and N93.6 billion stimulus for the healthcare sector in addition to other sector interventions.

Read also: CBN spent ₦26.27bn on healthcare projects —Emefiele

N49.195 billion of the N50 billion COVID-19 Household and SME facility had been disbursed to beneficiaries exceeding 92,000, the apex bank boss stated, noting that a N1 trillion response facility is equally available for the manufacturing and agriculture industries to drive growth and foster economic recovery in the aftermath of the coronavirus outbreak.

“The Committee is hopeful that upon further drawdown of these intervention facilities, the much needed reset and rebound of the Nigerian economy will become a reality,” he said.

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