Business

Withdrawal of COVID-19 Forbearance pushes banks’ bad loans above CBN limit

By Elizabeth Adegbesan The withdrawal of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) COVID-19 regulatory forbearance given to banks has pushed banks’ Non-Performing Loans (NPLs) ratio to 9.94 per cent in the first quarter of 2026 (Q1’26), significantly above the apex bank’s prudential benchmark of 5.0 per cent. The development was disclosed in the CBN’s first quarter […]
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2025 budget funding under pressure as oil output under-performs in H1’25

•Bonny Light price averaged $71 per barrel – OPEC •Uncertainty pervades H2’25 outlook – LCCI, BudgIT, others By Udeme Akpan, Energy Editor There are indications that the 2025 Federal Budget has come under funding pressures as the petroleum industry regulator, Nigerian Upstream Regulatory Commission, NUPRC, recorded significant under-performance of crude oil output   in the first half of […]

E-Payment transactions rise 24% to N317.2trn in Q1’25

By Elizabeth Adegbesan There are indications that Nigerians are fast relegating cash transactions to the background as the value of electronic payment transactions skyrockets. According to the latest report released by the Nigerian Interbank Settlement System, NIBSS, value of electronic payment transactions (EPT) grew year-on-year (YoY) by 24 percent to N317.2 trillion in the first quarter […]

Banks, insurance, others contribute N1.77trn to economy in Q1’25

By Babajide Komolafe Banks, insurance, and other companies in the financial institutions sector contributed N1.77 trillion to the economy in the first quarter of the year, Q1 ’25, representing 15 per cent, year-on-year YoY, increase from N1.545 trillion in the corresponding period of last year, Q1’24.   The National Bureau of Statistics, NBS disclosed this in its […]

Dangote Cargo: Nigerian ships lose to Angola’s fleet

Dangote Refinery has turned to Angola’s fleet for the shipment of its crude and refined products. Speaking at the 2025 Maritime Law Seminar in Lagos, President of the African Shipowners Association in Nigeria, Ladi Olubowale, who disclosed this, explained that Dangote’s decision to rely on Angola-based vessels for logistics was because Nigerian ship owners do not […]

Banks record 29.4m closed accounts, 33m inactive

By Elizabeth Adegbesan About 29.4 million bank accounts in commercial banks were recorded as closed as at March 2025 as banks make efforts to clean their books of questionable accounts and comply with regulatory order on linkage of bank accounts to National Identity Number, NIN. This figure, however, represents a full recovery as the banks’ books showed […]

Naira depreciates to N1,537/$ in official market

By Elizabeth Adegbesan The Naira yesterday depreciated to N1,537 per dollar in the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market (NFEM) surpassing the parallel market with a N2. Data published by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, showed that the exchange rate for the naira rose to N1,537 per dollar from N1,536 per dollar on Tuesday, indicating N1 […]

POWER: LCCI canvasses performance-based franchising for DisCos

Says CBN’s orthodox monetary policy stance stabilising FX By Yinka Kolawole Against the backdrop of inadequate and unreliable power supply across the country, the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has called on the Federal Government to ensure a more vigorous enforcement of performance-based franchising for electricity distribution companies (DisCos). President of LCCI, Mr. Gabriel […]

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