BANKS REDUCE LENDING TO ECONOMY BY N115BN IN Q1

Banks pair back lending to the economy by N115 billion in the first quarter of 2017, even as Nigerians withdrew N1.5 trillion through ATMs during the quarter. These were disclosed by the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, in a report titled: Selected Banking Sector Data released yesterday. According to the report, banks lending to 17 sectors of the economy fell to N16 trillion in the first quarter of 2017 from N16.12 trillion in fourth quarter of 2016, indicating decline of 0.71 per cent or N114.8 billion. However, when compared to lending in the first quarter of 2016, banks lending to the sectors increased by 23 per cent. The report also showed that the oil and gas sector got the largest loan of N3.6 trillion, followed by the manufacturing sector with N2.1 trillion and government by N1.4 trillion. The smallest amount of loan went to the Mining and Quarrying sector with N8.2 billion, followed by the Education sector with N86.4 billion, and Power and Energy sector with N306 billion. The report showed that the volume and value of electronic payment transactions stood at 304.3 million and N22 trillion at the end of Q1 2017. ATM transactions came first in terms of volume with 179 million transactions while Nigeria Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS) Instant Pay (NIP) transactions came first in terms of value with N13.1 trillion.

The report also showed that Nigerians withdrew N1.5 trillion through ATMs in the first quarter of 2017, slightly down from N1.54 trillion at the end of fourth quarter of 2016. However, when compared to the level at end of Q1 2016, cash withdrawal through ATM increased by 36.4 per cent from N1.1 trillion in Q1 2016. Also the volume and value of PoS transactions increased to 26.6 million and N285.97 billion from 22.3 million and N260.58 billion in Q4 2016. While the number of mobile payment transactions dropped to 12.6 million in Q1 2017 from 13.4 million in Q4 2016, the value, however, rose to N260.6 billion from 230.3 billion during the same period. Similarly, the volume and value of web (internet) transactions rose to 5.5 million and N46.6 billion in Q1 2017 from 5.2 million and N43.6 billion in Q1 2016. The volume and value of NIP (instant pay) transactions went up to 69.7 million and N13.1 trillion in Q1 2017 from 58.5 million and N12.2 trillion in Q4 2016.

Vanguard (Online)