By Peter Egwuatu

LAGOS— The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, yesterday, expressed its support to the National Assembly for the enactment of National Credit Reporting Act to address the challenges of channelling credit to the productive sectors as well as reducing the risk of Non Performing Loan, NPL, in the banking sector, which has risen to N649.63 billion in May 2016.

Mr Godwin Emefiele ..

CBN governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, who disclosed this at the 3rd National Credit Reporting conference, in Lagos, with the theme: “Credit bureaux and access to finance: Nigeria’s success story,” said:  “The prevailing economic challenges of Nigeria are daunting with the current economic realities pushing unemployment rate to 12.1 per cent  (first quarter 2016) against 6.4 per cent  in the final quarter of 2014, with a fall in Gross Domestic Product, GDP, growth rate to -13.7 per cent in Q1 2016 from -11.57 per cent  a year ago.

“This is particularly worrisome for the CBN. Additional measures are being taken to identify productive sectors of the economy with a view to channelling credit to these sectors, while imposing proper monitoring and performance measures in order to ensure that the goals of increased employment and poverty reduction are inclusively achieved.”

The CBN governor, represented by Lagos Branch Controller of the bank, Mr. James Iyari, said: “This year, 2016, marks the 25th year anniversary for credit reporting in Nigeria and no doubt had contributed to the resilient financial system that is propelling the growth and development of our nation.

“The National Assembly, in the same line of thought with the CBN, is considering a bill on National Credit Reporting that will bring all stakeholders under one regulatory platform. The Bill was sponsored by Senator Rafiu Adebayo Ibrahim. In order to make the proposed National Credit Reporting Bill meet international standards, the CBN, in collaboration with International Finance Corporation, IFC and Credit Bureau Association of Nigeria, CBAN, reviewed the draft Bill and articulated some amendments to the document.”