Nigerian banks’ loans to private sector declined by 11.93 per cent in March amid rising interest rates.

Data from the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, showed that loans to the private sector dropped to N71.21 trillion at the end of March 2024 compared to N80.86 trillion in February 2024.

On a quarter-on-quarter basis, banks’ private sector credit also decreased by 6.66 per cent from N76.29 trillion in January 2024.

The development comes amid the continued tightening of monetary policy measures to curtail inflation.

The apex bank raised the interest rate to 24.75 per cent.

Nigeria’s inflation rate increased to 33.2 per cent by March 2024, according to the latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS.

Manufacturers in Nigeria have continued to lament the continued tightening of the MPR by the CBN.

African Banker magazine has announced the shortlist of nominees for this year’s edition of its African Banker Awards. Since its inception in 2007, the African Banker Awards has recognised the exceptional individuals and organisations driving Africa’s rapidly transforming financial services sector.

Zenith Bank and Ecobank were nominated for the Bank of the Year award while Access Bank and First Bank of Nigeria Plc were nominated in the Trade Finance category.

The Award winners will be announced during a spectacular gala dinner ceremony on the 28th May, in Nairobi, Kenya – a part of the official programme of The Annual Meetings of the African Development Bank Group.

The African Banker Awards is organised by IC Events. It is held under the patronage of the African Development Bank. The Awards’ Platinum Sponsor is the African Guarantee Fund, with African Export-Import Bank and Vista Bank as the Gold Sponsors, and the Cocktail Reception being sponsored by African Trade & Investment Development Insurance.

Nominees were selected from a record number of entries from across the entirety of the African continent. For the first time in the Award’s 18 year history, three nominees for the most prestigious ‘Banker of the Year’ are women, reflecting the growing number of female leaders in finance.

Speaking about the Awards, Omar Ben Yedder, Chair of the Awards Committee, also noted the growing role of Development Finance Institutions.

“Over the years, we have seen the evolving role of DFIs,” he said. “They are playing an important role in structuring transactions and in catalysing development, often filling the gaps in areas that are under-served or under-represented.”

“That said, the finance gap in infrastructure, trade and climate finance mean that the banking sector as a whole will need to be even better capitalised. But looking back at the 18 years of the Awards, it is night and day when you look at the size of our domestic banks and the transactions they are capable of structuring.”

Data from the National Pension Commission (PenCom) have revealed that Nigeria’s pension fund assets dropped marginally to N19.669 trillion for the period ended 31st March 2024.

This represents a marginal decrease of about 0.45 percent when compared with  N19.759 trillion reported as net asset value (NAV) in February 2024.

This was contained in the commission’s monthly report for March 2024 released by PenCom.

According to the report, the total pension fund net asset value dropped to N19.669 trillion in March compared to N19.759 trillion reported a month earlier.

A closer look at the data reveals that investment in FGN securities continues to dominate portfolio allocation with about N12.200 trillion or 62.03 percent of total net asset value (NAV).

Pension Funds also allocated N2.058 trillion to corporate debt securities and N1.779 trillion to money market Instruments.

Investments in ordinary shares of local companies rose by 8.72 percent to N2.082 trillion from N1.915 trillion in February.

Fund II, which is the default RSA Fund under the Multi-Fund Structure, maintained the largest share of the Active RSA Funds allocation with N8.331 trillion or 42.35 percent of the total fund NAV.

Fund III also rose by 1.19 percent from N5.112 trillion to N5.173 trillion maintaining its second position for fund allocation.

Meanwhile, RSA membership for March 2024 rose by 0.22 percent to 10,280,956 from 10, 258,611 members in February 2024.

Pension funds’ NAVs have risen from N14.9 trillion in December 2022 to N19.7 trillion in March, representing a whopping N4.8 trillion or 32.21 percent increase.

For context, between 2021 and 2022, pension fund assets rose by just N1.57 trillion from N13.42 trillion to N14.99 trillion.

The rise is likely linked to a combination of a surge in pension fund contributions and a rise in portfolio values.

For example, FGN Securities has seen its Net Asset Values rise from N9.64 trillion in 2022 to N11.89 trillion as of March 2024.