CBN charges banks on Nigeria’s economic recovery

Lagos urges response to policy by financial institutions

For the country to return to economic normalcy, the banks had been charged to evolve innovative approaches to the nation’s development agenda, as their financial intermediation activities cut across all sectors.

Moreover, since intervention policies of the Central Bank, are extended to the target populace through them, they have added role as financial institutions to develop more ground-breaking roles for the country’s recovery.

CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, who made the charge in his opening address at the 2016 Bankers’ Committee retreat in Lagos, yesterday, noted that at a critical time in the country’s history, the emphasis on diversification and support for its achievement must be accorded priority by bankers.

At the retreat with the theme, “Economic Recovery: The Role of the Banking Sector,” the governor reiterated that banks must come up with innovative solutions that will enable the finance sector to play a key role in driving Nigeria’s growth and development.

The retreat, which is the eighth in the series, was a yearly event where members of the Bankers’ Committee engaged in strategic reviews of critical developments within the financial system and the economy.

“The focus on economic recovery by bankers is timely, given the sustained external headwinds we are grappling with, triggered by several factors. Chief of such is the 70% plus decline in the price of crude oil between June 2014 and June 2016.

“With over 90% of our export revenues coming from the sale of crude oil, the drop in its prices along with the end of quantitative easing programme in the United States has led to a huge impact on our economy, particularly in the foreign exchange market,” he said.

Meanwhile, Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, has charged banks to take their roles in the quest to revive the economy seriously.