By Adedapo Adesanya

The Manufacturers of Nigeria (MAN) has warned that manufacturers are facing a disparity in access to structured credit, which is affecting the sector’s productivity.

In his analysis, the Director General of MAN, Mr Segun Ajayi-Kadir, explained that commercial bank credit to manufacturers declined by N1.92 trillion between December 2024 and December 2025 to N6.61 trillion from N8.53 trillion.

The figure, he said, represents a year-on-year contraction of 22.5 per cent, placing manufacturing among the sectors with the highest decline in credit access.

Mr Ajayi-Kadir said the development was troubling at a time when Nigeria requires increased investment in productive sectors to strengthen local production, reduce import dependence and create employment opportunities.

“Declining access to affordable finance is threatening factory expansion, employment and economic diversification, and government and regulators need to urgently reform industrial financing,” he said.

He noted that while manufacturing credit suffered a major decline, other sectors such as oil and gas and financial services continued to attract higher levels of bank financing, raising concerns about the allocation of capital towards productive activities.

The MAN DG blamed the worsening situation on a combination of high borrowing costs, restrictive monetary conditions, commercial banks’ risk-averse lending approach and delays in implementing targeted industrial support programmes.

He highlighted high interest rates as one of the biggest obstacles confronting businesses, noting that borrowing costs remain too expensive for long-term investments in factories, machinery upgrades and production expansion.

MAN stated that with lending rates reportedly above 30 per cent in many cases, manufacturers are finding it increasingly difficult to finance operations, maintain competitiveness and expand capacity.

The association also identified the high Cash Reserve Requirement (CRR) maintained by the Central Bank of Nigeria as another factor limiting the amount of funds available for lending to businesses.

According to MAN, commercial banks have become more cautious in extending credit because they bear the risks associated with intervention funds, leaving manufacturers unable to meet collateral and equity requirements demanded by lenders.

The association also cautioned that weakening domestic production could deepen inflationary pressures by increasing dependence on imported goods and putting additional pressure on foreign exchange reserves.

To reverse the trend, the MAN boss called for urgent measures, including the introduction of government-backed credit guarantees for small and medium-scale manufacturers.

Mr Ajayi-Kadir also urged the government to ensure the immediate implementation of the Manufacturing Stabilisation Fund and create a more direct financing structure capable of delivering single-digit interest loans to genuine manufacturers.

He said Nigeria’s industrial ambitions could only be achieved when manufacturers have access to affordable and sustainable financing.

The MAN boss warned that without a functional credit system supporting production, Nigeria’s goal of becoming a competitive manufacturing economy would remain difficult to achieve.

By Adedapo Adesanya

The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange returned to positive territory after it chalked up 1.18 per cent on Wednesday, June 24.

The NASD Security Index (NSI) was up during the session by 50.02 points to 4,289.36 points from the previous session’s 4,239.34 points, and the market capitalisation got a N30.03 billion boost to settle at N2.574 trillion compared with Tuesday’s closing value of N2.544 trillion.

The growth witnessed yesterday was influenced by two securities, led by Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc, which improved its value by N4.68 to N79.68 per share from N75.00 per share. Food Concepts Plc grew by 25 Kobo to sell at N2.75 per unit versus the preceding day’s N2.51 per unit.

At the close of trading activities, the value of securities bought and sold by market participants went up by 1,387.1 per cent to N82.9 million from the preceding session’s N5.6 million, and the volume of securities soared by 1,162.2 per cent to 2.7 million units from the previous 211,671 units, while the number of deals was halved by 50 per cent to 19 deals from 38 deals.

Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units valued at N8.4 billion, followed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units sold for N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 68.3 million units transacted for N4.7 billion.

GNI Plc also closed the session as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units exchanged for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units traded for N415.7 million.

By Adedapo Adesanya

The value of the Naira further depreciated by 0.72 per cent or N9.90 against the United States Dollar to N1,380.54/$1 in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Wednesday, June 24, in contrast to Tuesday’s exchange rate of N1,370.64/$1.

Equally, the local currency weakened against the Pound Sterling in the same official market yesterday by N4.88 to close at N1,815.63/£1 versus the previous session’s N1,810.75/£1, and lost N2.61 on the Euro to sell at N1,563.63/€1 compared with the preceding day’s N1,561.02/€1.

However, at the GTBank forex counter, the domestic currency maintained stability against the US Dollar during the session at N1,380/$1, and at the parallel market, it closed flat at N1,395/$1.

Rising FX payments and a strong US Dollar have generally put significant pressure on emerging-market currencies, like the Naira.

According to the data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), NFEM interbank FX turnover was relatively steady at $125.588 million across 126 deals, from $125.314 million the previous day.

Interbank FX activity among financial institutions has fluctuated amid a sharp slowdown in forex market interventions by the apex bank, with more than six weeks of no support for the local currency.

Meanwhile, Nigeria’s foreign reserves increased further to $51.142 billion, while global oil prices entered the lower $70s.

Meanwhile, in the cryptocurrency market, nearly $1 billion worth of futures positions were liquidated across crypto majors to tokenised versions of stocks such as Micron Technology Inc (MU) and Sandisk (SNDK).

The dip triggered roughly $430 million in long liquidations on Bitcoin-tracked futures, or bets on higher prices that were automatically closed as the price fell.

Thursday’s PCE inflation print, the Fed’s preferred price gauge, is the next data point that could move the market in either direction, with Dogecoin (DOGE) down by 2.4 per cent to $0.0771.

Further, Bitcoin (BTC) fell by 1.9 per cent to $61,584.02, Ethereum (ETH) shed 1.6 per cent to trade at $1,645.50, Ripple (XRP) depreciated by 1.6 per cent to $1.08, Binance Coin (BNB) slumped by 1.5 per cent to $570.95, Cardano (ADA) crashed by 1.1 per cent to $0.1495, and Solana (SOL) slipped by 1.0 per cent to $69.19.

But TRON (TRX) gained 0.1 per cent to finish at $0.3288, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.