Total Credit To Economy Now N19.5trn – Emefiele

Total credit to the economy rose to N19.54 as of the end of November 13, according to the Central Bank of Nigeria.

The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, who disclosed this after the Monetary Policy Committee meeting on Tuesday, said aggregate domestic credit grew by 7.61 per cent in October 2020 compared with 7.35 per cent in the previous month.

He attributed this to the bank’s policy on Loan-to-Deposit Ratio, supported by its interventions in the various sectors of the economy.

“Total gross credit by the banking industry stood at N19.54tn as at 13th November 2020 compared with N19.33tn at end-August 2020, an increase of N290.13bn,” he said.

When compared with N15.56tn at the commencement of the LDR policy in May 2019, total gross credit increased by N3.97tn, he said.

He said these loans were granted mainly to manufacturing (N738bn), general commerce (N874bn), agric and forestry (N301bn), construction (N291bn), ICT (N231bn), just to mention a few.

Emefiele said the committee noted the reduction in interest rates on loans granted by Deposit Money Banks.

As of October 2020, he said, 86.23 per cent of total loans granted to over one million customers by DMBs were at interest rates considerably below 20 per cent.

This was an improvement from 76.43 per cent as at July 2019, he said.

He said, “The committee recognised the supportive developmental roles of the CBN towards addressing some of the structural issues in the economy.

“The MPC specifically expressed optimism on the future impact of the disbursements from agri-business/Small and Medium Enterprise Investment Scheme (N92.90bn to 24,702 beneficiaries), Anchor Borrowers Program by the sum of N164.91bn to 954,279 beneficiaries and COVID-19 Targeted Credit Facility to household and SMEs (N149.21bn to 316,869 beneficiaries).”