Manufacturers Association of Nigeria has stated that credit to the manufacturing sector decreased by 9.5 per cent to N7.72tn as of March 2025, down from N8.53tn in December 2024, amid a fragile recovery that requires urgent policy intervention to sustain.
The association, which released its findings in the Third Quarter 2025 Manufacturers CEO’s Confidence Index report in Lagos on Tuesday, said the decline in credit, high energy costs, and foreign exchange liquidity constraints continued to weigh on the performance of the real sector despite modest gains in output and business confidence.
Director General of MAN, Segun Ajayi-Kadir, said the sector’s resilience remained fragile as key constraints persisted.
“High lending rates averaging 36.6 per cent, declining credit access of N7.72tn, and rising unsold inventories of N1.04tn continue to limit manufacturing performance,” he said.
Ajayi-Kadir stated that though capacity utilisation improved to 61.3 per cent in the first half of 2025, from 57.6 per cent in the second half of 2024, the gains were modest and could easily be eroded without decisive policy action.
