Nigerian banks have advanced loans to the private sector by well over a trillion naira just in 3months to October following the 60-65% Loan to Deposit Ratio Policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The CBN had adopted the LDR policy to discourage banks’ investments in government securities and force banks expand lending to the private sector to ramp up the struggling economy and boost jobs.
CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, disclosed this on Tuesday as he also announced the apex bank’s decision to leave all benchmark rates unchanged, including the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) at 13.5%; Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) at 22.5%, Liquidity Ratio (LR) as well as the Assymetric corridor around the MPR at +200/–500 basis points.
Emefiele said the CBN was confident of the outcomes of its monetary policies so far and therefore does not see any immediate compelling reasons to adjust rates.
Addressing the press on the outcomes of the two-day Monetary Policy Committee meeting of the CBN in Abuja, the governor, however, raised concerns on rising inflation, which he attributed to soaring food prices, but was confident that recent policies were good enough to quell the trend in the near term.
…details shortly…
