CBN’s long awaited financials reveal $7.5bn owed Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan

Business A.M

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said it owes JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs a combined sum of $7.5 billion as of the financial year ended December 2022, and another $6.3 billion included as liabilities owned in foreign currency forwards.

This is according to the apex bank’s consolidated financial statements covering  the 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 financial periods,released recently for the first time since 2015.

The consolidated financial statements, published on the CBN website showed that the CBN delivered a profit after tax of N103.8 billion in 2022, up from N75.13bn reported a year earlier.

The 2022 financial statement partly read, “The Group entered into a securities lending agreement with Goldman Sachs and J. P. Morgan and as part of the agreement, the Group pledged its holdings on foreign securities in return for cash. The cash received from Goldman Sachs is N0.23trn ($500m), 2021: N0.22trn ($500m), and JP Morgan N3.23tn ($7bn), 2021: N3.05tn ($7bn) is recognised in other foreign securities.”

According to the financial statements, securities lending forms part of the CBN’s total external reserves of about N14.3tn or $29bn using the official exchange rate of N494/$1 as of 2022.

The apex bank also disclosed another N3.15 trillion ($6.3bn) in foreign currency forward which are forex obligations it needs to make to foreign investors.

Business A.M gathered that the CBN started publishing details of its annual report on its website in 2005. However, it stopped the publication of the financials in 2016 during  Godwin Emefiele’s tenure as governor and the report was never published until his suspension.

The failure of the CBN to publish the crucial documents has been considered by analysts and industry players as  violation of the CBN Act 2007, which stated that the apex bank is expected to publish its report within two months after the end of each financial year.

The law guiding the CBN’s operation says, “The Bank shall, within two months after the close of each financial year, transmit to the National Assembly and the President a copy of its annual accounts certified by the Auditor.”

Meanwhile, the CBN, currently headed by acting governor, Folashodun Shonub, has assured that the latest publication is a testament that it is ready to reveal its financials to public scrutiny.