World Bank gives Nigeria clean bill of health

By Eromo Egbejule,
WorldNewsVine, Nigeria

Lagos (Aug 30) – NIGERIA is a no credit crunch economy, the World Bank declared yesterday in a report presented to President Goodluck Jonathan in Abuja.

The bank, in a report of a recent research conducted on the state of the Nigerian economy, gave the country a clean bill of health over its credit status.

The report was presented at a presidential meeting with stakeholders.

The meeting was attended by the Ministers of Finance, Olusegun Aganga, National Planning, Dr. Shamsudeen Usman, Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Deziani Allison-Maduekwe and Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi represented by Dr. Kingsley Moghalu Deputy Governor, Financial System Stability.

Also present were the Director- General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Ms. Arunma Oteh, and representatives of other players in the financial sector as well as selected members of the Organised Private Sector (OPS) and captains of industries.

Mr. Isma’il Rodwan of the World Bank Nigeria Country Mission told Jonathan that contrary to the perception in some quarters, there was no evidence of credit crunch in the Nigerian economy.

The research conducted by the bank on the country’s financial sector, he noted, revealed that Nigerian banks before the intervention of the CBN, were not lending significantly to the economy, but instead lending was concentrated on margin loans to the capital market, as well as oil and gas.

According to the report, there is a gradual credit growth in the economy but for understandable reasons, margin lending has declined after the crisis in the banking sector, which led to the intervention of the CBN.

The World Bank also applauded the reforms of the banking sector by the apex bank, saying that the reforms were necessary and timely.

Posted by Egbejule Eromo on August 30, 2010. Filed under Africa Regional News,Business - Africa,International Business News,International News,News - Africa,Nigeria,WorldNewsVine. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.