Bad loans in Nigeria’s banking sector rose to 8.03 per cent in January 2026, seven months after the Central Bank of Nigeria moved to end regulatory forbearance granted to banks on some credit exposures and single obligor limit breaches.
The figure, contained in the CBN’s January 2026 Economic Report, showed that the industry’s non-performing loans ratio rose by 0.52 percentage point from 7.51 per cent in December 2025.
It also remained above the CBN’s prudential threshold of five per cent, indicating a further deterioration in asset quality across the banking industry despite the apex bank’s insistence that the sector remained resilient.
The report said, “Following the bank’s loan reclassification after the withdrawal of forbearance, the non-performing loans ratio rose by 0.52 percentage point to 8.03 per cent compared with the level in the preceding period and was above the 5.00 per cent prudential threshold.”
The development came after the CBN, in June 2025, directed banks still benefiting from regulatory forbearance on credit exposures or single obligor limit waivers to suspend dividend payments, defer bonuses to directors and senior management, and halt fresh investments in foreign subsidiaries or offshore ventures.
