By Elizabeth Adegbesan
Decline in retail demand has triggered a 17 percent month-on-month (MoM) fall in Consumer credit to N3.54 trillion in July 2025 from N4.27 trillion as at June 2025.
According to the breakdown in July 2025 Economic Report of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, the consumer credit was made up of N950 billion retail loans and N2.59 trillion personal loans.
Further details showed that retail loans fell by 51.5 percent MoM to N950 billion from N1.96 trillion in June, reflecting consumers low appetite for credit due to I high interest rate .
According to the CBN’S July Consumer Expectations Survey Report, “a higher percentage of respondents (40.6 percent) observed a rise in the interest rates on bank loans over the past three months.
CBN further stated: “Fewer respondents (34.4 percent), however, anticipated a rise in interest rate in the next three months.”
However, personal loans grew by 12.12 percent MoM to N2.59 trillion in July from N2.31 trillion in June 2025.
Consumer credit had increased by 6.48 percent to N4.27 trillion in the second quarter of 2025, Q2’25 , from N4.01 trillion in Q1’25.
CBN’s latest Monthly Economic Report stated: “Consumer credit outstanding fell by 17.10 per cent to N3.54 trillion at end-July 2025, from N4.27 trillion in the preceding month.
“ The decrease in consumer credit was driven by the 51.53 per cent decline in retail loan, which offset the 12.21 per cent increase in personal loan.
“Disaggregated data showed that personal loans stood at N2.59 trillion, accounting for 73.16 per cent of the total, while retail loans, at N0.95 trillion, accounted for the balance.
“The dominance of personal loans over retail loans over time reflected steady household demand for liquidity.”
The post Low retail demand, interest increases plunge consumer credit by 17% to N3.54trn appeared first on Vanguard News.
