Two years after exiting its first recession in more than 20 years, Nigeria’s economic recovery remains fragile. While a recovery in the price of oil – which accounts for 90% of the country's exports – has lifted revenues since the lows of 2016, growth remains sluggish, thanks to weak private consumption and tepid investor confidence. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) expects Nigeria’s gross domestic product to grow by just 2.3% in 2019, an improvement on the 1.9% recorded in 2018, but well below the country’s population growth rate.
In a bid to boost the economy, in July 2019 the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) raised the minimum loan-to-deposit ratio for banks to 60% in a bid to encourage banks to lend more to the private sector. The CBN doubled down on the move in late September, with the announcement that the threshold would be raised to 65% at the end of the year.
