How do you assess the impact of the global economic melt down on the Nigerian economy?
Clearly the global meltdown has affected the Nigerian economy; not just the banking and finance sector, but clearly that is where it felt most. The reasons vary from country to country. In Nigeria what has happened is that it created a crisis of liquidity. Many of our banks that had exposed themselves to various sectors of the economy and also many of our banks that had started borrowing from abroad were suddenly confronted with the immediate demand for monies they had borrowed. It was very evident in the capital market where some of the foreign portfolio investments, those who had invested in the Nigerian Stock Exchange now started off-loading. As they were off-loading there was no liquidity in the market to even buy. So, shares started flooding the market and there were no people with money to purchase them. That was how the Nigerian Capital Market crashed. 60% of what was being off-loaded was locked in the banks. I would say that the global meltdown is still affecting many projects
