Data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has shown that Nigerian bank’s non-performing loans (NPLs) for full-year stood at N8.17 trillion.
This amount is less than the N9.54 trillion worth of NPLs that was recorded in the year prior.
Quarterly breakdown of the NPLs
A total of N2.18 trillion was recorded in the first quarter of 2018 as non-performing loans.
During this quarter, financial institutions in Nigeria lent the total sum of N15.83 trillion to the companies and individuals in the country.
During the second quarter of last year, banks once again provided about N15.58 trillion worth of credit facilities to support the economy. Out of this sum, N1.93 trillion later became non-performing loans.
The same pattern played out in Q3 2018 when financial institutions lent the sum of N15.86 trillion, only to record N2.24 trillion worth of non-performing loans.
For the final quarter of the year, banks and other financial institutions lent provided totalled at N15.35 trillion, out of which N1.79 trillion later became non-performing loans.
From the foregoing, therefore, it can be seen that not only did banks lend the most in the third quarter of 2018, they also recorded the most non-performing loans during the period.
Here are some sectors of the economy that received loans from banks
Operators in the Nigerian oil and gas sector borrowed the most loans, followed by their counterparts in the manufacturing sector.
Others include the operators in the real estate market, insurance, education, information technology, transportation, and others.
Is the Federal Government to blame for the considerably high NPLs?
Back in December during the final Monthly Policy Meeting for 2018, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Mr Godwin Emefiele, had implied that the Federal Government was partly responsible for the banking sector’s high NPLs.
He told journalists that non-performing loans in the sector would drastically reduce if the Government could just offset its contractual debts.
“We have been very clear about this, with the size of contractor debts in the region of N2.7 trillion and because these debts are unpaid to the contractors, they are unable to service or pay back their loans at the banks and that is why we seized the opportunity of this communiqué to talk about it so that these debts can be paid.”
