TheCable

The total value of transactions through electronic payment channels reduced by 21.1 percent at N263.78 trillion in the second quarter (April-June), the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said in its latest selected banking sector report. 

By volume, transactions in Q2 2020 were 2.1 percent less than the first quarter, which stood at 2.21 billion.

A total of 306 million transactions valued at N3.74 trillion were carried out through automated teller machines in the second quarter, compared to 527 million transactions at N4.86 trillion recorded in the first three months of the year. 

The total value for point of sale (PoS) transactions tanked at N994.91 billion from N1 trillion; mobile application transfers in the period under review increased by 4.75 percent at N6.92 trillion from N6.60 trillion in Q1.

Transfer through the unstructured supplementary service data (USSD) was flat at N1.03 trillion in the second quarter — the same value recorded between January and March.

According to the report, total credit to the private sector by commercial banks in the country hit a five-year high at N18.82 trillion as at the end of the second quarter.

Breakdown of various sectors showed that the oil and gas and manufacturing sectors got credit allocation of N3.62 trillion and N3.07 trillion, respectively, to record the highest credit allocation in the quarter — this represents 19.21 and 16.31 percent, respectively; education got the least attention at N68.51 billion.

Credit facility to the real sector of the economy has in recent times received a boost following the introduction of a new 65 percent loan-deposit ratio for banks in the country by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

CBN has also introduced various stimulus packages aimed at reducing the impact of the pandemic on businesses in the country.