For the first time in four months, banks increased loans to consumers by 3.4 per cent to N2.34 trillion in November last year, driven by yuletide preparation spending.

Consumer loans are money lent by banks to one or more individuals for household, family, or other personal expenditures.

According to the Central Bank of Nigeria’s, CBN, November Economic Report, consumer loans rose, month-on-month, MoM, by 3.4 per cent to N2.34 trillion in November from N2.372 trillion in October.

According to CBN in its November economic report, consumer credit grew by 3.4 per cent to N2.452 trillion at the end of November, up from N2.372 trillion at the end of October.

Resultantly, consumer credit as a share of total claims on the private sector grew by 0.1 percentage point to 8.6 per cent at end-November. Higher consumer credit demand was attributed to preparations for the yuletide season. 

A disaggregation of consumer credit revealed that personal loans stood at N1.864 trillion, accounting for 76.0 per cent, while retail loans stood at N588.72 billion, and accounted for 24.0 per cent.