The IMF on
Saturday in Istanbul said the reforms by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to correct
the "lax lending standards'' in Nigerian banks would restore confidence in the
banking sector.
The IMF's Director of African Department, Antoinette Sayeh, made the fund's
position known on the CBN's reforms at the ongoing 2009 IMF/World Bank Annual
Meetings.
The CBN had sacked the management of some banks in the last three months and
injected over N420 billion into the banks to buoy their operations and save
customers deposits.
Mr. Sayeh, a former Minister of Finance in Liberia, said the IMF had already
extended technical support to the CBN to ensure that it succeeds in its
regulatory supervision.
The Minister of Finance, Mansur Muhtar, who led a Nigerian delegation to meet
with the World Bank President Robert Zoellick told newsmen that the
Bank had also commended the CBN for the steps taken so far.
According to him, the discussions with the World Bank President also touched on extending the facilities from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to the banks in order to help them in their re-capitalisation.