Economy
COVID-19: Banks still stable, resilient, says CBN
By Ginika Okoye
Central Bank of Nigeria
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says the country’s banks have remained stable, robust and resilient despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
CBN Director of Banking Supervision Mr
CBN Director of Banking Supervision Mr. Haruna Mustafa said this at the 2021 Nigeria Fiscal Correspondents Association (FICAN) workshop in Ibadan on Friday.
Adekunle Adeniji
Mustapha, represented by Mr. Adekunle Adeniji, Deputy Director of Banking Supervision, CBN, said the capital adequacy ratio (CAR) rose to 15.21% in August, the liquidity ratio (LR) to 42 , 23%.
January and August
He said the ratio of non-performing loans rose from 6.58 percent to 5.9 percent in August 2021, while the banking system’s credit to the economy rose to 10.99 percent between January and August.
Mustafa noted that regulatory actions taken by CBN have contributed to the growth.
He listed some of the apex bank’s interventions to mitigate the impact of the pandemic, including cutting interest rates to five percent.
Banking and Other Financial Institutions Act
The others are: a target credit facility of N50 billion for households and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and the enactment of the Banking and Other Financial Institutions Act (BOFIA 2020) to strengthen the architecture of regulation and resolution for banks and other financial institutions.
The director said the CBN would continue to develop additional countercyclical policy options that could be used in times of stress.
Mustafa explained that macroprudential regulation and supervision are more critical than ever.
“We expect public services to be delivered more digitally.
“We will continuously update and evaluate our prudential rules and policies to strengthen responses to economic and financial shocks.
“We will continue to deploy effective stress testing methodologies to detect vulnerabilities early to enable appropriate preventive action,” he said.
Mustafa explained that the banking sector has also supported the growth of key economic activities, which have been affected by the pandemic in agriculture, manufacturing, retail, healthcare, hospitality and tourism.
Source: NAN
