Credit to the economy grew by five per cent in five months, from N42.6 trillion in December 2020 to N44.7 trillion in May 2021.
The growth is driven by increased lending to the private sector.
This was as currency outside banks and currency in circulation fell by 7.6 per cent and 4.1 per cent during the same period reflecting the impact of increased usage of electronic payment channels.
The CBN disclosed this in its updated Money and Credit data, which showed a three per cent growth in current account deposits of banks.
Analysis of the data shows that credit to the economy rose by N2.1 trillion or five per cent to N44.7 trillion in May from N42.6 trillion in December 2020.
The growth was driven by credit to the private sector which grew by N2.1 trillion or seven per cent during the period to N32.2 trillion in May from N30.1 trillion in December 2020.
However, credit to the government grew marginally by N100 billion or 0.8 per cent during the period to N12.5 trillion in May from N12.4 trillion in December.
