Nigerian banks owed N3.93 trillion by energy firm - apex bank

According to latest data released by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), oil, gas and power firms owe banks in the country about N3.931 trillion as at the end of December 2015.

CBN governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, in the bank's Quarterly Statistical Bulletin for the Fourth Quarter, Q4, 2015, released recently, stated that the indebtedness represented a decline of 1.36 per cent or N54 billion against N3.985 trillion recorded at the end of November 2015.

A breakdown of the commercial banks’ sectoral credit allocation showed that the downstream, natural gas and crude oil refining segments owed banks as much as N2.273 trillion as at the end of the year. This figure is slightly higher than the N2.264 trillion recorded in November, while the upstream and oil and gas services sector owed N1.156 trillion compared to N1.192 trillion month on month.

In the power sector, the banks are owed N340.31 billion by Independent Power Plants (IPPs), and power generation companies, while power transmission and distribution companies owed N162.44 billion against N168.1 billion in the same corresponding period.

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According to Nigeria CommunicationsWeek, the report stated that total loans and advances to the domestic economy during the period stood at N12.263 trillion, down by N15.7 billion or 0.1 per cent below the level recorded in the preceding month, but with an increase of N86.8 billion or 0.7 per cent above year end 2014.

“Sectoral analysis of credit to private sector revealed that the service sector gulped 44.6 per cent, the industry sector had 33.3 per cent and other sectors secured the remaining fraction of the credit to private sector with agricultural sector obtaining the least, 3.4 per cent.

“Further analysis of the credit to industry sector showed that oil and gas; manufacturing; power and energy; and mining and quarrying sub-sectors received 52.1, 39.8, 7.8 and 0.3 per cent, respectively.

“Furthermore, a breakdown of total credit to service sector revealed that other sub-sectors;oil & gas; finance; insurance & capital market; real estate; power & energy and education had 50.7, 19.8, 13.6, 11.9, 2.8 and 1.3 per cent, respectively,” the report read.

Other data from the report reads that oil accounted for 57.56 per cent of the gross revenue during the review quarter, while the balance of 42.44 per cent was from non-oil sources, while gross oil revenue was 59.79 per cent of the budgetary target of N1.358.