Empirical Analysis of Non-Performing Loans and Liquidity of Deposit Money Banks: Nigeria Experience

Abstract

Nigerian Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) tend to have suffered the plight of Non-Performing Loans (NPLs) in recent times in no small quantum. Consequently, a large chunk of them have had to increase their loan loss provisions and this may dwindle their liquidity. This study investigates the effect of non-performing loans on liquidity of Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) in Nigeria. A panel regression analysis was performed on a data of 15 quoted DMBs from 2009 to 2019, in order to examine the correlation between the explained variable (banks’ liquidity) and Non-Performing Loans (NPL) while other explanatory variables- Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR), Bank Size (BS), Loan Growth (LG), Monetary Policy Rate (MPR), Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and Inflation were taken into consideration. Data were extracted from the banks’ yearly financial statements and the World Bank Financial Statistics. Based on the empirical findings, the study found only four variables-Non Performing Loans, Capital Adequacy Ratio, Bank Size and Inflation significantly related at 5% significant level with banks’ liquidity while the other three; Gross Domestic Product, Loan Growth and Monetary Policy Rate were identified as insignificant. The finding also revealed that NPLs has negative effect on banks’ liquidity while CAR, BS and INF showed positive relationship. The study recommends strict compliance of banks with the NPLs tolerable limit set by the Central bank. It also suggests that the CBN take proactive measure to ensure the banks’ compliance with the minimum capital requirement. Keywords: Banks, Financial Institutions, Liquidity, Non-Performing Loans, Performance