A new survey by the Central Bank of Nigeria has revealed that firms, including small, medium and large organisations, expect borrowing costs to rise this month and in the next 12 months.
The CBN’s August 2018 Business Expectations Survey Report shows that the firms expect the naira to appreciate in the current month, next month and next 12 months as their confidence indices stood at 27.5, 38.4 and 52.3 index points, respectively.
The central bank said the survey was conducted between August 12 and 21, 2019 with a sample size of 050 businesses in the services, industrial, wholesale/retail trade, and construction sectors.
“The respondent firms expect borrowing rates to rise in the current month, next month and the next twelve months as the confidence indices stood at 5.5, 3.1 and 4.6 points, respectively,” it said.
The CBN said the respondents’ average expected inflation rate in the next six months and the next 12 months stood at 11.6 and 11.4 per cent, respectively.
It said, “The respondents anticipate better economic conditions as their index of economic growth rose in the short run with an index of 35.4, 47.9 and 58.5 points for the current month, next six months and next 12 months,respectively.
“Respondent firms expressed satisfaction with the management of inflation by the government with a positive net satisfaction index of 8.3 in August 2019. The net satisfaction index is the proportion of satisfied less the proportion of dissatisfied respondents.”
