Business
Banks’ Non-Performing Loans Hit N692bn
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has put the non-performing loans of banks in the country at N692 billion as at August.
Dr, Kingsley Moghalu, CBN Deputy Governor (Financial System Stability), disclosed this in Lagos on Monday.
Moghalu said that the amount represented a reduction of N418 billion or 37.66 per cent against the N1.11 trillion non-performing loans recorded in 2010.
He said that the average banking industry’s non-performing loan, as a percentage to total credit, currently stood at N9.37 per cent, adding that this was below the maximum prudential threshold of 12.5 per cent.
He said that CBN had identified a strategy to respond to future threat from the consequences of the last financial crisis.
Moghalu said that CBN would pursue the strategy in the next 12 months to develop and establish a framework for the resolution of the banking crisis in future with “strong scenario planning”.
He said that the strategy would develop and implement a strong macro-prudential framework that would anticipate and address macroeconomic imbalances and shocks.
Moghalu said that it would prevent the systemic exposure to which the banking and wider financial system in Nigeria were vulnerable, including global economic dynamics.
He said that as part of the strategy, the CBN would continue to strengthen the micro-prudential regulation and supervision of individual banks and promote their safety and soundness.
“Banks need to move away from the swashbuckling, deal-making accent it has acquired in recent decades, back to the traditional, conservative ethics that emphasise trust between banks and their customers, as well as prudence.
“Let the future of banking in Nigeria be well informed and shaped by the experiences of the past 25 years.
“If that experience is any guide, all stakeholders- operators, regulators and the banking public have a key role to play in the sound growth of the banking sector.
“Banking is too important to any society to be left to bankers alone,” Moghalu said.
Business
NAFDAC Decries Circulation Of Prohibited Food Items In markets …….Orders Vendors’ Immediate Cessation Of Dealings With Products
Importers, market traders, and supermarket operators have therefore, been directed to immediately cease all dealings in these items and to notify their supply chain partners to halt transactions involving prohibited products.
The agency emphasized that failure to comply will attract strict enforcement measures, including seizure and destruction of goods, suspension or revocation of operational licences, and prosecution under relevant laws.
The statement said “The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has raised an alarm over the growing incidence of smuggling, sale, and distribution of regulated food products such as pasta, noodles, sugar, and tomato paste currently found in markets across the country.
“These products are expressly listed on the Federal Government’s Customs Prohibition List and are not permitted for importation”.
NAFDAC also called on other government bodies, including the Nigeria Customs Service, Nigeria Immigration Service(NIS) Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Nigeria Shippers Council, and the Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service (NAQS), to collaborate in enforcing the ban on these unsafe products.
