The currency flow in Nigeria has recorded a drastic hike in circulation by N1.15 trillion in 2021 to N3.33 trillion as of December 2021 its highest level on record. This is on the back of several monetary policies adopted by the Central Bank of Nigeria to increase liquidity in the economy.
This data was obtained from the money and credit statistics of the Central Bank of Nigeria. According to the data, Nigeria’s currency in circulation increased by 39.4% in the year compared to N2.91 trillion recorded as of the end of the previous year. The Central Bank maintained a subtle monetary approach to stimulate the economy all through the year.
In the same vein, credit to government also increased by N1.33 trillion in 2021, rising to N13.73 trillion as of December 2021 from N12.4 trillion recorded as of the previous year.
The increase in bank credit is in line with the CBN’s mandate to give the real sector easy access to credit in order to ensure economic stability having suffered from a recession in the previous year during the covid-19 pandemic.
According to the recent MPC communique released by the CBN, the apex bank disbursed N75.99 billion to support the cultivation of over 383,000 hectares of maize, rice and wheat during the 2022 dry season, between November and December 2021, under the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP). This brings the cumulative disbursements under the Programme to N927.94 billion to over 4.5 million smallholder farmers cultivating 21 commodities across the country.
Similarly, the central bank also released N1.76 billion to finance two (2) large-scale agricultural projects under the Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme (CACS).
In addition, CBN disbursed the sum of N151.23 billion under the Real Sector Facility to 15 additional projects in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, and services. The funds were utilized for both greenfield and brownfield (expansion) projects under the Covid-19 Intervention for the Manufacturing Sector (CIMS) and the Real Sector Support Facility from Differentiated Cash Reserve Requirement (RSSF-DCRR).
Cumulative disbursements under the Real Sector Facility currently stood at N1.4 trillion disbursed to 331 projects across the country.
