In an effort to run their day-to-day business operations and liquidity constraints in the interbank money market, Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) and merchant banks borrowed an estimated N33.97 trillion from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) between January and February 2025.
Experts attributed the increasing banks’ borrowing from CBN to the dwindling naira at the foreign exchange market, coupled with the rising inflation rate and the apex bank mopping up excess liquidity in the financial sector.
According to financial data released by the CBN, the N33.97 trillion borrowed in two months of 2025 represents an increase of 257.3 per cent from N9.51 trillion borrowed in the two months of 2024.
The CBN provides the Standing Lending Facility (SLF), a short-term lending window for banks and merchant banks, to access liquidity to run their day-to-day business operations.
Analysis of the CBN dada revealed that banks and merchant banks in January 2025 borrowed N9.16 trillion from CBN, a 158 per cent YoY increase from N3.54 billion in January 2024, while in February 2025, a total of N24.82 trillion was borrowed.
