Operators in the nation’s manufacturing sector saw their combined debt to Nigerian banks rise to N3.71tn as they borrowed N520bn from January to August. Banks’ credit to the sector by 16.3 per cent in the eight-month period from N3.19tn as of December 2020, according to the sectoral analysis of deposit money banks’ credit by the Central Bank of Nigeria. The sector received the second-biggest share of the credit from the banks after the oil and gas sector, which got N5.47tn as of August 2021. The Monetary Policy Committee of the CBN noted at its last meeting that the manufacturing and non-manufacturing Purchasing Manager’s Indices improved in August to 46.9 index points each, compared with 46.6 and 44.8 index points, respectively, in July. It said this was attributed to an increase in new orders, driven largely by rising demand, uptrend in business activity and further normalisation of economic activities. It also noted that the employment level index component of the manufacturing and non-manufacturing PMIs in August improved to 49.4 and 48.8 index points, respectively, compared with 46.5 and 47.0 index points in July. The committee expressed optimism that with the current level of monetary and fiscal stimuli, as well as efforts to increase vaccination.

Punch