The banking system credit to the private sector rose by 1.4% to N16.509 trillion at the end of fourth quarter of 2013. This is against 3.7 and 2.7% increase recorded in the preceding quarter and the corresponding period of 2012, respectively.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) economic report for fourth quarter said that the development, relative to the preceding quarter, reflected the 0.9% increase in claims on the core private sector during the review quarter but comparing to the level at end-December 2012, banking system’s credit to the private sector rose by 9.0%.
The report said that the aggregate banking system’s credit to the domestic economy rose by 14.9%to N15.040 trillion, at the end of the fourth quarter of 2013 against the decline of 0.5 and 1.5% at the end of the preceding quarter and the corresponding quarter of 2012, respectively.
The development relative to the preceding quarter was due, largely, to the 54.0 and 1.4% increase in claims on the federal government and the private sector, respectively. It said that over the level at end-December 2012, aggregate banking system’s credit to the domestic economy, grew by 18.5%, reflecting the 40.1 and 9.0% increase in claims on the private sector and the federal government.
The report however pointed out that banks credit to the federal government, at the end of the review quarter rose by 53.9% to negative N1.468 trillion, against the 25.5 and 31.4% decline at the end of the preceding quarter and the corresponding quarter of 2012, respectively.
This according to the CBN was accounted for by the increase of 29.7% in central bank claims on the federal government. Over the level at end-December 2012, the CBN said that the credit to the federal government improved by 40.1, reflecting largely the rise in banking system’s holding of federal government securities.
The development, relative to the preceding quarter was attributed to the decline in both the CBN and banks’ holdings of foreign assets. Comparing it with the level at end-December 2012,foreign assets (net) of the banking system went down by 5.9% at the end of the review quarter, against the decline of 1.3% at the of the preceding quarter.
