The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has released its Consolidated Financial Statements for the past seven years spanning 2016-2022 financial years as the National Assembly, civil society organizations’ (CSOs) and stakeholders’ agitations for the apex bank to comply with the nation’s financial reporting guidelines remained unabated.
The Consolidated Financial Statements showed that in the 2022 financial year (FY), the bank posted a profit after tax (PAT) of N103.8 billion in 2022, up from N75.13 billion it reported in the preceding year.
Also, the financial report posted on the website of the CBN showed that the apex bank reported $13.8 billion liabilities, comprising a sum of $7.5 billion owed JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs as well as another $6.3 billion owed in foreign currency forwards.
The apex bank also reported that it owed Goldman Sachs $500 million and JP Morgan $7 billion classified as securities lending.
The 2022 financial statement partly reads: “The Group entered into a securities lending agreement with Goldman Sachs and J. P. Morgan and as part of the agreement, the Group pledged its holdings on foreign securities in return for cash. The cash received from Goldman Sachs is N0.23tn ($500m), 2021: N0.22tn ($500m), and JP Morgan N3.23tn ($7bn), 2021: N3.05tn ($7bn) is recognised in other foreign securities.”
A further analysis of the Consolidated Financial Statements indicated that securities lending was a major component of the CBN’s total external reserves of about N14.3 trillion ($29 billion) based on the official exchange rate of N494/$1 as of 2022.
Similarly, the apex bank also owed another N3.15 trillion ($6.3 billion) in foreign currency (FX) forwards, which are FX obligations it needed to redeem to foreign investors.
According to the CBN Act 2007, the apex bank is expected to publish its report within two months after the end of each financial year.
Specifically, the Act partly provided that “the Bank shall, within two months after the close of each financial year, transmit to the National Assembly and the President a copy of its annual accounts certified by the Auditor.
“A report required to be submitted to the National Assembly and the President shall be published by the Bank in such a manner as the Governor may direct
“The Board shall ensure that accounts submitted pursuant to this section shall as soon as possible be published in the Gazette.
“The Bank shall as soon as may be practicable after the last day of each month makeup end publish a return of its assets and liabilities as at the close of business on that day, or if that day is a holiday, as at the close of business on the last preceding business day”, it added.
Despite public clamour for the release of the financial statements over six years, the suspended CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, neither responded to the demand of the public finance stakeholders nor complied with the provisions of the enabling law of the CBN.
Analysts in the public finance space believe that the release of the Consolidated Financial Statements is an indication that the management of the apex bank, under the leadership of the acting Governor Folashodun Shonubi, is prepared now to open the government lender’s books to the public for scrutiny in compliance with the CBN Act 2007.
