Banks’ Credit To Economy Rises By 11% To N84trn

Banks’ net domestic credit to the economy has hit N84 trillion representing an 11 percent Month-on-Month, MoM, rise fromN75.49 trillion in May.

The breakdown, according to the Money and Credit Statistics of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, released yesterday, shows that the private sector took N52.8 trillion, showing about 17.9 percent rise from the N44.78 trillion it collected in May 2023.

The statistics also show credit to the government rose by 1.6 percent to N31.2 trillion from N30.7 trillion during the period.

On the other hand, the data also showed that currency-in-circulation (CIC) rose MoM by 4.0 percent to N2.6 trillion in June from N2.5 trillion in May.

The rising trend was also reflected in currency outside bank which grew by 4.15 percent to N2.26 trillion from N2.17 trillion in May.

Both CIC and currency outside banks have been on the rise since February 2023 when the Supreme Court ordered that the old N200, N500 and N1,000 will remain legal tender till December 31st, 2023.

When CBN releases currency into circulation it is meant to be used and after a period of time, it returns to the CBN, thereby keeping the the volume of currency in circulation under the firm control of the CBN.

When the apex bank was executing the Naira redesign, it succeeded in recovering about N1.9 trillion into its vaults, leaving about N900 billion CIC.