The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has revealed that banking industry lending to the private sector surpassed N44 trillion to N44.1 trillion in April 2023, as the economy recovers following the general elections. In its latest Money and Credit Statistics, the CBN recorded N44.1 trillion in credit to the private sector, the highest so far, 2.40 percent MoM and 17.76 percent YoY increase.
As the effects of the cash crunch faded in the country, Deposit Money Banks (DMB) began to increase lending to the private sector, increasing the level of credit to the sector by 6.16 percent Year-to-Date (YtD) from N41.54 trillion to N44.1 trillion at the end of April 2023.
As a result of this slow economic activities in first quarter 2023 (Q1), business conditions in the country deteriorated at the sharpest paces, while price pressures climbed further in March 2023 and at the same time, borrowing costs were increased to a new record high.
Specifically, credit to private sector added N212 billion between January that was N41.54 trillion to N41.75 trillion in February, and gained N1.3 trillion to N43.07 trillion in March 2023. However, it added N1.03 trillion between March and April 2023.Analysts at Cordros Research attributed the increase in the credit to the private sector reflects the impact of improved domestic macroeconomic conditions and CBN-led interventions on the real sector.
