Deposit Money Banks (DMB) in the country have reduced maximum lending rate to 26.61 per cent, latest data by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on banks’ deposit and lending interest rates has shown.
The prevailing rate, which is coming amid rising inflation rate expected to hike operating cost and reduce profitability, shows an over five-year low.
According to CBN data, the maximum lending rate was around 26 per cent in 2016 and rose to over 31 per cent in 2017.
It further said the drop involves a decline in lending rates to the real sector of the nation’s economy and increasing deposit rates on bank customers’ deposits.
The data on banks’ deposit and lending interest rates also showed a 1.4 per cent drop in the average maximum lending rate from 26.61 per cent in March 2022, as against 27.65 per cent in January 2022.
The maximum lending rate was at 30.73 per cent in February 2022 and it has dropped by 2.5 per cent to 27.85 per cent in December 2021 from 28.3 percent it was in January 2021.
The apex bank data further showed that interest on savings deposits closed March 2022 at 1.28 per cent from 1.25 per cent, representing an increase of 2.4 per cent Year-till-Date (YtD) performance.
