The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has reported a total income of N1.2 trillion for the financial year ended December 31, 2015.
The report by CBN noted that N721.81 billion, net operating income less interest expenses, impairment charges and other operating expenses/losses showed a 54.9 per cent increase over the N466.04 recorded in 2014.
According to CBN report, the increase in net operating income reflected the significant rise in foreign exchange revaluation gains and interest income.
The 2015 annual report by CBN disclosed that, the significant increase in income dampened the effect of total operating expense, which rose by 42.4 per cent relative to the level in 2014, thus, bringing the net income for 2015 to N108.53 billion, compared with N35.42 in 2014.
The report stated that in line with the provisions of the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2011, 20 per cent of the net income was credited to retained earnings (reserves), while the balance was paid to the Federal Government.
The size of CBN’s balance sheet expanded further in 2015 as total assets/ liabilities increased by 12.3 per cent to N15.33 trillion. “The increase in assets reflected the N314.5 and 29.3 per cent increase of investment in securities and loans and receivables, respectively.
“The corresponding increase on the liability side was attributed, mainly, to the rise in deposits held by the Bank,” the 2015 annual report by CBN disclosed.
The CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, in a statement said, the global economy remained weak in 2015 amidst fragile unbalanced growth and poor outlook.
He noted that the tepid global growth continued to be threatened by strong downside risks due to sharp drop in commodity prices, a slowdown and rebalancing of the Chinese economy, and the aftershocks of the nomalisation of the US monetary policy
Looking ahead, the CBN governor said, “In the coming year, the non-oil sector is expected to remain impressive in driving domestic growth, especially following the various interventions of the CBN in the real sector. The CBN’s development finance initiatives at supporting the real sector has been very significant in this aspect.
“The CBN will continue its developmental initiatives aimed at supporting and promoting direct intervention in the real sector, including the agriculture, manufacturing, power, MSME, and aviation sectors. We believe this will boost domestic supply capacity, reduce demand for import-related foreign exchange, and situate the economy more strategically to withstand oil price shocks.”
The 2015 report by CBN disclosed that aggregate bank credit and credit to the private sector grew by 12.1 per cent and 3.3 per cent, and were significantly below their targets of 29.03 and 26.06 per cent, respectively.
“Net foreign assets of the banking system significantly contracted by 18.7 per cent compared with the programmed benchmark of 10.6 per cent, due to the challenging external environment. Developments in interest rates were mixed reflecting the liquidity conditions in the banking system. Rates at all segments of the money market were generally volatile and higher than the levels in 2014 with spikes reflecting the harmonisation of CRR and market reaction to the deadline by the Federal Government for the full implementation of the Treasury Single Account (TSA).
“The sharp decline in rates in the last quarter of 2015 was, however, due to an accommodative monetary policy to ease monetary conditions in the wake of the full implementation of the TSA
“In furtherance of its mandate to promote a sound financial system and safeguard public confidence in the Nigerian banking system, the Bank intensified its supervisory and surveillance activities.
“It also sustained the risk-based supervision approach to allow for better evaluation of risk through separate profiling and assessment of inherent risks and risk management of banks and other financial institutions. In addition, it issued various circulars and letters and adopted a forward looking supervisory process that emphasised early identification of risks and system-wide issues. In the other financial institutions subsector, the Bank issued the Regulatory and Supervisory Guidelines for Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) in Nigeria during the year,” the report disclosed.
The 2015 report disclosed that the Bank guaranteed 69,436 loans, valued at N11.4 billion under the Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme (ACGS) in 2015, bringing the total number of loans guaranteed since the inception of the Scheme in 1978 to 1,001,299, valued at N95.9 billion.
“A total of 28,801 interest draw-back programme (IDP) claims, valued at N363.3 million, was settled at end- December 2015, resulting in a cumulative IDP claims of 285,113, valued at N2.6 billion settled since its inception in 2004. Under the Trust Fund Model (TFM), the number of placements was 58, valued at N5.65 billion at end- December 2015. Under the Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme (CACS), the sum of N73.4 billion was released to 17 banks for on-lending in respect of 75 projects in 2015.
“Cumulatively, the sum of N336.4 billion had been disbursed under the Scheme by end-December 2015. Six new projects, valued at N432.0 million, were guaranteed in 2015 under the Small and Medium Enterprises Credit Guarantee Scheme (SMECGS), bringing the cumulative number of projects guaranteed under the Scheme since its inception in April 2010 to 87, valued at N4.2 billion,” the CBN’s report further explained.