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The Federal Executive Council on Wednesday told the Central Bank of Nigeria to ignore criticisms directed at its reforms. This came as the apex bank reported a 7.68 per cent growth rate on the country’s economy in the second quarter of 2010.CBN Governor, Mr. Lamido Sanusi, briefed the FEC on the performance of the economy in the second quarter of 2010 at its meeting in the council chambers.Sanusi also announced that approval had been given for the disbursement of N130bn out of the N500bn fund set aside for the refinancing and restructuring of the manufacturing sector.The CBN governor informed the council that there had been steady growth in Gross Domestic Product, driven largely by the non-oil sector, particularly agriculture.In his submission to the FEC, Sanusi also disclosed that “interbank rates and other money market rates, including lending, also moderated.”He added that the foreign exchange market was stable in the second quarter, while the capital market had continued to recover.

According to Sanusi, “The foreign exchange market was substantially stable, while the recovery in the capital market continued.”
However, the apex bank boss admitted that minimal growth was recorded in monetary and private sector credit aggregates.“The growth in monetary and private sector credit aggregates remained sluggish,” Sanusi noted.He informed the council that “the implementation of the banking sector reforms had continued to engender confidence in the system, and credit by the rescued banks continues to grow, while most of them have returned to profitability.”The CBN governor noted that the modality for putting into operation the recently signed Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria Act, “is being finalised and would help to further stimulate the recovery of the financial system.”

“Without the establishment of AMCON, the rescued banks would have been eventually liquidated if there are no viable buyers,” Sanusi noted.Sanusi also briefed the council on the Bankers’ Committee’s initiatives to support government’s economic programmes such as - interactions with state governments in order to generate a pipeline of projects that the financial system would fund; support for regulatory reforms towards the effective use of infrastructure bonds and providing economic advocacy for power and agriculture.