The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has stated that Private Sector Credit Extension (PSCE) rose marginally by 0.51 per cent, or N380. 85 billion to N75.62 trillion in February this year.

A statement from the apex bank captured in the latest “Money and Credit Statistics” obtained by Saturday Telegraph yesterday suggest that the figure rose from N75.24 trillion posted in January 2026.

Telegraph’s analysis of the data further shows that net credit to the government also increased in February, rising by 4.64 per cent, or N1.59 trillion, to N35.77 trillion from N34.19 trillion in the preceding month.

Further analysis of the data indicates that although it dropped in January 2026, credit to the country’s private sector maintained an upward trend in the last four months of 2025, rising from N72.53 trillion in September, to N74.41 trillion in October, N74.63 trillion in November and N75.83 trillion in December.

Analysts note that cred- it to the private sector maintained an upward trend between September and December, last year because even though the CBN’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) reduced the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR)- the benchmark interest rate- by 50 basis points to 27.00 per cent at its September meeting and left the rate unchanged at its meeting in November, the Committee at that November meeting, eased financial conditions by adjusting the asymmetric corridor around the MPR to +50/- 450bps from +250/- 250bps. This move, analysts said, was aimed at boosting credit expansion to the real sector.

Meanwhile, the CBN’s latest data shows that Currency Outside Banks (COB) eased to N5.207 trillion in February 2026 from N5.210 trillion in the preceding month. Currency in Circulation was unchanged at N5.731 trillion in February 2026, same as the figure recorded for January