Dr Godwin Emefiele the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has attributed the country’s economic growth to series of policy measures put in place by the apex bank.
Emefiele made the assertion at the 11th Annual Bankers Committee Retreat with theme: “Delivering Inclusive Growth: Leveraging Digital Finance” in Ogere, Ogun State.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the two day retreat, brought together, Chief Executive Officers of Commercial Banks to discuss financial issues bothering the nation.
“The Gross Domestic Profit (GDP) growth has remained positive for 10 consecutive quarters after the recession.
“For the 2nd and 3rd Quarter of 2019, GDP growth stood at 2.1 percent and 2.28 percent respectively.
“The positive growth in GDP has been driven by improvements in Agriculture, Oil and Gas, Manufacturing and Information Communication Technology,” he said.
The governor also said Headline Inflation declined from its height of 18.7 percent to 11.08 percent in August 2019.
He said in October, there was an uptick in Headline Inflation which stood at 11.61 per cent.
According to him, the uptick is partly driven by cost – push factors such as the recent border closure.
He said that the effect would be temporary, as efforts were being made to induce greater production of staple food items.
Emefiele said, however, that the core inflation as of October 2019 was under 9 per cent.
The CBN governor said also that the country’s financial system was in a much stronger position, as capital buffers and liquidity in the banking system continued to improve.
” Industry wide Capital Adequacy Ratio(CAR) has increased from 10.2 percent in December 2017 to 15.5 percent in September 2019.
“The percentage of non performing loans in the banking sector has declined from its high of 14.7 percent in January 2017 to under 7 percent as at October 2019.
“Credit conditions in the banking system have improved supported by our new policy measures announced in June 2019, which requires banks to maintain a minimum 65 percent loan to deposit ratio.
