A recent survey has revealed that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is yet to make public, its financial activities for the year 2015.
Navigations at the group’s website weekend only showed the presence of 2014 report. Pundits say, as a regulator, regular update of its activities is very important for the sector it regulates to be on the same page.
In his comments in the 2014 Annual Report and Financial Statements of the
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for the year ended 31st December, 2014, the CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele who noted that “this is the first since I took over as Governor of the CBN on 3rd June, 2014,” said “In general, 2014 has been a very eventful and challenging year for the Bank, the country, and the world at large”.
According to Emefiele, “In 2014, the global economy witnessed considerable vulnerabilities characterized by fragile growth and weak economic outlook”.
“Global growth recovery was modest and continued to be threatened by strong downside risks, as a result of sharp drop in commodity prices, escalating geo-political tensions, and heightening threats to financial markets that resulted from the reversal of monetary stimulus in the US. Aside from the elevated risks to capital flows following the end of the US Federal Reserve’s Quantitative
Easing Program, the key concern for the Nigerian economy was associated with the significant decline in global oil prices. During the year under review, the spot price of
“Nigeria’s crude oil fell by over 50 per cent, from a peak of US$114.17 per barrel in June 2014 to US$63.19 per barrel by end-December 2014. This exerted a downward pressure on Nigeria’s external reserves with an attendant loss in value from US$42.84 billion in January to US$34.24 billion at the end of the year. The latent and direct effects of the uncertainty associated with increases in oil price volatility raised speculative activities in the domestic foreign exchange market and thereby intensified demand pressure that caused a weakening of the Naira in all windows during the course of the year.
He said “During the year under review, the Nigerian economy displayed uncommon resilience against the strong global headwinds, especially when compared to its peers, as well as when contrasted with the spillover effects of the aforementioned exogenous factors it confronted during the year. The country’s financial system continues to look good, based on fundamental measures of macroeconomic stability, even though there is always room xli Central Bank of Nigeria Annual Economic Report – 2014 for improvement. Efforts at the continued diversification of the economy away from overreliance on oil are beginning to pay off in this regard. Based on the rebased Gross
Continuing, Emefiele recalled that “Domestic Product (GDP), the economy expanded by 6.2 per cent in 2014 compared to 5.5 per cent in 2013, the global growth rate of 3.3 per cent in 2014, and the growth rate of 4.4 per cent recorded by emerging and developing countries in 2014”.
“The robust expansion in 2014 reflected the significant growth in key non-oil sectors especially services, agriculture and industry. In addition, the economy enjoyed a considerable degree of price stability as year-on-year consumer price inflation remained within the target band of 6 to 9 per cent across all three measures of inflation during the year.
“As part of its developmental function, the Bank signed MoUs with various key stakeholders in the power sector and intends to disburse the first tranches to qualifying
Generation companies (GENCOs) and Distribution companies (DISCOs) by the first quarter of the coming year. In this regard, the CBN will continue its leading initiatives at supporting and promoting direct intervention in the real sector including the agriculture, manufacturing, power, MSME, and aviation sectors.
