By Cynthia Ezekwe 

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has disclosed that loans from commercial banks to governments at all levels stood at N26 trillion as at January, 2023.

The apex bank made the disclosure in its latest money and credit statistics data  published recently  on its website.

According to the report, the  net domestic credit banks’ lending to the private sector is N42.25 trillion, while the total bank credit to the economy reached N68.90 trillion in January.

The figure indicates that there is a  37.56 per cent or N18.8 trillion increase compared to N50.09 trillion in the corresponding period of 2022.

Breakdown of the CBN’s data showed that banks’ credit to the private sector increased by N7.07 trillion or 20.09 per cent to N42.25 trillion in January 2023, from N35.18 trillion in the corresponding period of last year.

The data also disclosed that banking sector credit to the private sector in January 2023  increased by N451.63 billion or 1.08 per cent, compared to the N41. 80 trillion of December 2022.

However, the breakdown of the data shows that net credit to the government rose by N11.74 trillion or 78.79 per cent to N26.65 trillion in January from N14.90 trillion in the corresponding period of 2022.

On month to month, net credit to the government  increased by N1.99 trillion to N26.65 trillion in January from N24.66 trillion in the preceding month.