Source: Sweetcrude
The Nigerian banking sector’s outstanding loans to the energy industry rose by 1.25 percent to N5.65 trillion as at end of the first quarter of 2017, according to latest data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The NBS, in its First Quarter 2017 Selected Banking Sector Data, disclosed that the total loans appreciated by N68 billion from N5.582 trillion recorded at the end of the fourth quarter of 2016. The loans were given to oil & gas firms and power & energy firms.
According to the NBS, in the industrial sector, the banking sector credit to oil and gas firms stood at N3.576 trillion at the end of the first quarter of 2017; while outstanding loans to the power and energy sector stood at N472.084 billion.
Also, in the services sector, the NBS stated that total loans to oil and gas and power & energy firms stood at N1.296 trillion and N305.976 billion respectively.
On the other hand, as at the end of the fourth quarter of 2016, banking sector credit to oil and gas and power & Energy firms in the industry sector stood at N3.587 trillion and N432.3 billion; while in the services sector, oil and gas firms received a total of N1.268 trillion; power and energy firms received N293.993 billion.
In general, the NBS said, “In terms of credit to private sector, a total of N16 trillion worth of credit was allocated by the banks in the first quarter of 2017. Services and Industry got credit allocation of N9.25 trillion and N6.19 trillion to record the highest credit allocation in the period under review.
In the books of one of the banks, Zenith Bank Plc, the cumulative non-performing loans of power, oil and gas companies, rose to N41.49 billion as at the end of 2016, accounting for 58.14 percent of the bank’s total non-performing loans (NPLs).
Giving a breakdown of its total non-performing loans in the energy sector, the bank, in its Annual Reports and Accounts for 2016, stated that oil and gas firms cumulative NPLs stood at N10.82 billion as at the end of December 2016, while power firms’ NPLs stood at N30.676 billion.
The 2016 figure represents a sharp increase in the energy industry’s non-performing loans in the books of the bank.
In particular, total NPLs for the energy sector in Zenith Bank stood at N1.7 billion, representing an appreciation of 2,340.59 per cent when compared with the N41.49 billion recorded in 2016. In the 2015 financial year, NPLs of power and oil & gas firms stood at N566 million and N1.134 billion respectively.
The bank’s gross loans to the oil and gas sector appreciated by 80 per cent from N362.489 billion in 2015 to N654.962 billion in 2016, while NPL attributed to the sector also rose by 854.23 per cent, from N1.134 billion in 2015 to N10.82 billion.
On the other hand, gross loans to the power sector rose by 95 per cent from N55.753 billion in 2015 to N108.272 billion in 2016, while non-performing loans to the sector rose massively by 5,319.79 per cent to N30.676 billion, from N566 million recorded in 2015.
In general, in its 2016 Annual Report and Accounts, Zenith Bank put its total cumulative non-performing loans at N71.374 billion, rising by 58.9 per cent from N44.9 billion recorded in 2015. Also the bank’s total gross loans to various sectors of the economy appreciated by 16.2 per cent from N2.032 trillion recorded in 2015 to N2.361 trillion as at the end of 2016.