Hardship pushes Nigerians’ indebtedness to banks as Tinubu fiddles economy
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Nigerians have resorted to borrowing more from banks to cushion the hardship that has befallen the country since Bola Tinubu became the main man in the Villa and just fiddling the economy without really moving the needle north.
Credit facilities Nigerians got from banks rose to N3.82 trillion in January 2024 amid rising inflation and difficult economic realities, caused mainly by the penchant of the President to feed his political instincts with tax payers’ money rather than funding productive sectors.
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Monthly Economic Report posted on its website shows total consumer credit rose 11.9 per cent to N3.82 trillion in January 2024 from N2.648 trillion in December 2023.
The borrowings jumped year-on-year (YoY) from N2.41 trillion in January 2023 to N3.82 in January 2024.
Retail loans increased 3.6 per cent to N794.79 billion in January 2024 against January 2023. Personal loans accounted for 79.2 per cent of consumer credit, according to the CBN.
The report explained that “total consumer credit outstanding increased by 11.9 percent to N3.82 in January 2024, driven, mainly, by the rise in personal loans on the back of heightened inflation
“A disaggregation of consumer credit revealed that personal loans increased by 14.3 percent to N3.028tn from N2.648tn in December 2023, while retail loans rose by 3.6 percent to N794.79 billion.
“Personal loans accounted for 79.2 percent of consumer credit, while retail loans accounted for 20.8 percent. Consumer credit, as a share of total credit from ODCs, however, declined to 6.6 percent, from 7.7 percent in the preceding month.”
Latest figures from the National Bureau of Statistic (NBS) show headline inflation rose for the 17th consecutive month to 33.95 per cent and food inflation 40.66 per cent in May.
Nigeria’s total debt jumped to N121.67 trillion in March 2024 from N97.34 trillion in December 2023.
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