Energy Companies Owe Nigerian Banks  N5.59 Trillion -CBN

The Central Bank of Nigeria has said energy firms owed banks N5.59 trillion as of May 2020.

The amount, according to the sectoral analysis of banks’ credit, represents 30 percent of the N18.63 trillion loans advanced to the private sector during the period under review.

A break down of the report shows that oil and gas firms increased their debt by N300 billion from N4.58 trillion in December 2019 to N4.88 trillion. While the power companies owed N705.93 billion, up from N671.45 billion filed in December 2019.

Accordingly, oil companies that are operating in the downstream, natural gas and crude oil refining subsectors owed combined N3.59 trillion as of May, up from N3.42 trillion in five months ago. While those in the upstream and services subsectors owed N1.29 trillion.

Power generation firms and independent power producers increased their total debt to N385.05bn in May from N373.22bn in December, while transmission and distribution firms owed banks N320.87bn as of May as they borrowed N22.64bn in the first five months of this year.