Bank loans to government rise to N16.32tn, says CBN

The total net credit by the Nigerian banking sector to the government rose by N2.2tn in the first quarter ended March 2022 to N16.32tn.

Figures obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria’s data on ‘Money and credit statistics’ have shown.

According to the data, the net credit to the government rose from N14.12tn as of the end of January 2022 to N14.72tn as of the end of February 2022.

The figure showed that this was an increase from the first quarter figure of 2021.

It showed that the net credit to the government rose from N12.09tn, N12.59tn and N12.07tn in January, February and March 2021 respectively.

The CBN also disclosed in its recent Monetary Policy Report that it reviewed the performance of its various interventions to stimulate productivity in manufacturing, industry, agriculture, energy, infrastructure, healthcare, and micro, small and medium enterprises.

Between January and February 2022, the CBN disbursed N29.67bn under the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme for the procurement of inputs and cultivation of maize, rice, and wheat – three crops that hitherto were significant import concerns.

These disbursements brought the total under the programme to over 4.52 million smallholder farmers, cultivating 21 commodities across the country, which totalled of N975.61bn.

It said the Nigeria Commodity Exchange had also been restructured to effectively aggregate excess outputs from the bank’s ABP-financed projects, with the objective of moderating food prices.

The CBN also released N19.15bn to finance five large-scale agricultural projects under the Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme, bringing the total disbursements under the scheme to N735.17bn for 671 projects in agro-production and agroprocessing.

In addition to these, it added, the CBN disbursed N428.31bn under the N1.0tn real sector facility to 37 additional projects in the manufacturing, agriculture, and services sectors.

It said the funds sourced from the Real Sector Support Facility – Differentiated Cash Reserve Requirement – were utilised for both greenfield and brownfield (expansion) projects under the COVID-19 intervention for the manufacturing sector.

Cumulative disbursements under the Real Sector Facility currently stood at N1.75tn, disbursed to 368 projects across the country.

Under the 100 for 100 policy on production and productivity, it said the CBN had disbursed N29.51bn to 31 projects, comprising 16 in manufacturing, 13 in agriculture, and two in healthcare.