In January 2024, Nigerians borrowed N3.82 trillion from banks due to hard economic realities and growing inflation.
This is stated in the most current monthly economic report from the Central Bank of Nigeria, which was made available on its official website.
Consequently, from N2.648 trillion in December 2023 to N3.82 trillion in January 2024, the total amount of consumer credit increased by 11.9 percent.
Compared to January 2023, when N2.41 trillion was reported, the data showed an increase of N1.41 trillion on an annual basis. It further mentioned that during the review period, retail loans increased by 3.6% to N794.79 billion.
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The data also showed that personal loans made up 7.2% of total credit extended to consumers.
“Total consumer credit outstanding increased by 11.9 percent to N3.82 in January 2024, driven, mainly, by the rise in personal loans on the back of heightened inflation. A disaggregation of consumer credit revealed that personal loans increased by 14.3 percent to N3.028tn from N2.648tn in December 2023, while retail loans rose by 3.6 percent to N794.79 billion.
“Personal loans accounted for 79.2 percent of consumer credit, while retail loans accounted for 20.8 percent. Consumer credit, as a share of total credit from ODCs, however, declined to 6.6 percent, from 7.7 percent in the preceding month,” it revealed.
The increase in living expenses brought on by Nigeria’s skyrocketing inflation rate is not unrelated to the development.
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Remember that the most recent inflation data released by the National Bureau of Statistics showed that food and headline inflation rose for the 17th consecutive time to 40.66 percent and 33.95 percent, respectively.
The changes coincide with Nigeria’s overall debt stock increasing from N97.34 trillion in December 2023 to N121.67 trillion at the end of March 2024.
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