Amid excess liquidity in the financial system, banks borrowing funds from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) dropped by 63 per cent year-on-year (YoY) to N4.49 trillion in April 2025 when compared to N12.17trillion reported in April 2024.
Banks access lending from the CBN using the Standing Lending Facility (SLF) window.
The CBN provides the SLF, a short-term lending window for banks, to access liquidity to run their day-to-day business operations.
WESTERNPOST learnt that banks have aggressively borrowed from the apex bank in 2025.
A probe into the financial data of the CBN showed that banks borrowed ₦50.46 trillion in the first quarter (Q1) of 2025, an increase of 161.5 per cent when compared to ₦31.25 trillion borrowed in Q1 2024.
The CBN lends money to banks through the SLF at an interest rate of 500 basis points above the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) that is currently at 27.50 per cent.
Further breakdown showed that banks in January 2025 borrowed an estimated ₦9.16 trillion, about a 158 per cent increase over ₦3.54 trillion in January 2024, while in February 2025, banks accessed ₦24.82 trillion, representing an increase of 316 per cent when compared to ₦5.97 trillion February 2024.
The borrowed ₦24.82 trillion is the highest amount so far that banks have borrowed from CBN in 2025.
However, banks’ borrowing from CBN dropped to N16.49 trillion in March 2025, about a 24 per cent decline from N21.7 trillion in March 2024.
As gathered by WESTERNPOST , the CBN between 2024 and 2022 borrowed banks the sum of N160.41 trillion based at interest rate that is based on the variation of MPR.
The financial data of CBN showed that banks borrowed the highest amount in March 2024 and the lowest amount in January 2024.
Specifically, about N21.74 trillion was borrowed by banks and merchant banks in March 2024, while N2.9 trillion was the lowest amount borrowed in January 2024.
These financial institutions in 2024 borrowed from the CBN at an interest rate of 32.50per cent as the asymmetric corridor around the MPR at +500/-100 basis points.
The interest rate at which these banks and merchant banks borrow from CBN changed in 2024 amid the Monetary Policy Committee hike in MPR.
In 2024, the MPC members voted to increase interest rate from 18.75 per cent to 27.50 per cent amid its mandate to tackle inflation rate and unstable Naira at the foreign exchange market.