Banks restructure loans worth N7.8trn for 35,640 customers, says CBN

Godwin Emefiele, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), says 22 banks have restructured loans worth N7.8 trillion to 35,640 customers.

Addressing journalists at the end of the monetary policy committee meeting on Monday, Emefiele said the loans would have gone bad if the CBN had not given banks the directive to restructure loans as part of efforts taken to cushion the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“If the CBN did not ask the banks to grant this forbearance to their customers, the loans will go bad immediately by our prudential ratios,” he said, adding that the amount restructured is part of the total N18.9 trillion credit in the banking sector.

The central bank governor said the ratio of non-performing loans to total credit improved to 6.4 percent in June from the 9.4 percent in the corresponding period of 2019, on account of increased recoveries, write-offs and disposals.

At the onset of the pandemic, the CBN had announced several intervention policies to help banks and their customers.

The policies include interest rate reduction on loans approved under intervention programmes, a moratorium on interest and principal repayments and provision of grants to healthcare companies, businesses and households that have been affected by the pandemic.

Providing an update on the beneficiaries of the COVID-19 intervention grants, Emefiele said over 92,000 beneficiaries have drawn N49.195 billion from the N50 billion household and SME facility.

He also said the CBN has disbursed over N152.9 billion to the manufacturing sector to finance 61 manufacturing projects and another N93.6 billion to the healthcare sector, amongst many other sector-specific facilities, and CA-COVID, the private sector intervention scheme coordinated by the CBN, has mobilised N32 billion to support the economy, lives and livelihoods.