Last week marked a significant development as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) unveiled its financial statements spanning the period from 2016 to 2022. This disclosure comes on the heels of the suspension of Mr. Godwin Emefiele, the former governor of the bank.  We believe that this move aligns with the new administration’s commitment to fostering transparency within the operations of the apex bank. This commitment emerges after a series of years during which the bank had refrained from releasing its financial records, a practice incongruent with the provisions stipulated in the CBN Act of 2007.

According to the financial results, Interest Income grew at a CAGR of 24.98% between 2016 and 2022 to reach NGN2.87trn. This is on the back of sustained increase across the years except in 2017 when Interest Income declined by 9.08% YoY to NGN685.61bn. Similarly, Interest Expense increased at a CAGR of 21.41% to NGN1.47trn between 2016 and 2022. Notably, interest expense on CBN instruments issued (NGN1.17trn) and Securities lending (NGN80.73bn) and Swap contracts (NGN223.98bn) contributed the most to Interest Expense.

Furthermore, Operating Expenses rose significantly by 121.96% from NGN548.88bn in 2016 to reach NGN1.22trn in 2022. We observed that Other Operating Expenses accounted for a whopping 72.92% of Total Operating Expenses incurred in 2022 (vs. 31.63% in 2016). In terms of profitability, both PBT  and PAT  recorded declines at CAGRs of 2.90% and 2.97% each between 2016 and 2022. Consequently, PBT settled at NGN105.06bn in 2022 (vs. NGN125.36bn in 2016), while PAT stood at NGN103.85bn in 2022 (vs. NGN124.47bn in 2016). However, the bank recorded sustained PAT and PBT from 2016 to 2022, despite persistent exchange rate fluctuations, extension of intervention funds and loans to government, as well as the implementation of developmental policies.

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