Banks’ total credit to the economy rose to N25.02tn as of the end of 2020, the Central Bank of Nigeria has said.

This was disclosed during the Monetary Policy Committee meeting in Abuja on Tuesday.

Delivering the committee’s submissions, the CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, said the figure rose by 13.4 per cent between November and December.

He said, “Aggregate domestic credit, also moved further up by 13.40 per cent in December 2020, compared with 9.48 per cent in the previous month.

“This was largely attributed to the bank’s policy on Loan-to-Deposit Ratio, complemented by its interventions in various sectors of the economy.

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“Consequently, banking sector gross credit as at end-December 2020 stood at N25.02tn compared with N24.25tn at the end of November 2020, representing an increase of N774.28bn.”

The committee urged the bank to sustain its current drive to improve access to credit to the private sector while exploring other complementary initiatives, in collaboration with the Federal Government, to improve funding to critical sectors of the economy.