Govt debts to banks hit N12.5tn

The federal and state governments borrowed at least N107.1 billion from Nigerian banks in the first five months of this year to make up for revenue shortfalls.

This number was derived using Central Bank of Nigeria data on money credit to the economy from December of last year to May 2021.

The new borrowings during this period have pushed the total government’s debt to the banking sector to N12.5 trillion compared to N12.4 trillion it stood as at December 2020.

When compared to N956 billion in May 2020 it also indicates a 30.8 percent increase.

The breakdown of bank credits to the government indicated that in January, bank credits to the government were at N12.3 trillion, but that in February, they climbed to N12.6 trillion.

Although it dropped to N11.99 trillion in March, credit to government closed April at N12.16 trillion before moving higher to N12.5 trillion in May.

Also, bank credit to Nigeria’s the private sector rose by N2.04 trillion during the review period, reaching N32.19 trillion.

This is in line with the CBN’s continued effort to compel Banks to boost their credit to the real sector of the economy so as to stimulate Nigeria’s economic growth.

According to the analysis of CBN data private sector credit rose from N30.14 trillion in December to N30.64 trillion in January.

It dropped to N30.5 trillion in February, but increased to N31.4 trillion in March.

April and May credit to the private sector stood at N31.9 trillion and N32.1 trillion respectively.