In the last three years, commercial banks in Nigeria have disbursed over N7 trillion in loans and advances to their customers, a feat which the Central Bank of Nigeria said was achieved through the apex bank’s loans to deposit ratio (LDR) policy.
This was stated by the Deputy Governor, Financial Systems Stability of the CBN, Mrs Aishah Ahmad at the 40th anniversary summit of the Financial Institutions Training Centre (FITC) in Lagos on Friday. Ahmad noted that the LDR policy, which specified that a specific percentage of bank deposits must go out as loans and kicked off in 2019, had seen the rate at which banks lend to the economy improve largely.
In July 2019, the CBN had increased the minimum required LDR to 60% and then went on to review it upward to 65% later in the year which has since then helped the country’s economy, as well as increased retail lending to households.
The increase of the loans to deposit ratio being increased means that for the amounts of money being deposited in the banks, the banks are to increase the rate at which loans will be given against the deposited amount. For example, if $1 is deposited, the LDR increase to 65% would mean that the bank would give out the equivalent of 60.5 cents per one dollar.
According to Ahmad, the CBN has tried for years to endure that it drives lending to the real sector as she went on state that the policy established by CBN Governor Emefiele over the past years has placed emphasis on this, in terms of intervention funds and also in terms of some of the policies put in place like the loan to deposit radio (LDR) which has added about N7 trillion in loans.
Speaking on the stability of the banking sector, Ahmad stated that all the indicators point to its strength and stability, as well as its role as a catalyst towards the country’s recovery.