Personal loans fell to 1.75 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2022, down from 1.85 trillion in the third quarter, according to the Central Bank of Nigeria.
To combat growing inflation, the Central Bank of Nigeria increased its Monetary Policy Rate, generally known as the interest rate, from 11.5 percent to 18 percent in the last six months.
Despite the rate boost, Nigeria’s inflation rate has continued to rise, reaching 22.22 percent in April.
As a result, consumer loans fell by 3.5% from N2.4tn in Q3 to N2.32 in Q4 2022.
According to the report, “consumer credit declined due to higher borrowing costs following the period’s 250-basis-point policy rate hike.”
“Consumer credit fell 3.5% to N2,318.63 billion at the end of the fourth quarter of 2022, from N2,402.67 billion the previous quarter.”
“As a result, consumer credit as a share of total private-sector claims fell by 0.6 percentage point to 8.1 percent, down from 8.7 percent in the previous quarter.”
