The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele, has said electronic transaction volumes increased by about 67 per cent during the COVID-19 lockdown with increased transactions at agent networks.

This was contained in a statement issued by the Head, Corporate Communications and External Relations, Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) Mr Nelson Olagundoye, in Lagos, yesterday.

Olagundoye quoted Emefiele as saying this during the 20th edition of the National Seminar on Banking and Allied Matters for Judges.

The seminar was organised by the CIBN, in collaboration with the National Judicial Institute (NJI), under the auspices of the Bankers Committee of CBN.

Emefiele was represented by his deputy, Aisha Ahmad, at the seminar.

The CBN governor said that the payment system infrastructure accommodated the surge as more citizens moved to electronic channels.

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He said that the banking and payments system was able to retain its operational resilience, maintaining availability of electronic payment and mobile banking channels.

Emefiele, who highlighted the role of technology, noted that this was in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has ‘’unraveled itself as a global health and economic crisis of seismic proportions’’.

He said that domestic and international travel and global trade value chains had suffered severe disruptions, with significant negative impact on financial markets, financial services industry, oil and gas, health, transport & aviation, education, hospitality and tourism, to mention just a few.

“Individuals, families, businesses, industries, economies, countries – all have had to adapt to a new normal, even as global coronavirus cases continue to rise above 50 million.

“The effects of the pandemic, particularly the crash in oil prices, disruption in trade value chains and muted business activities during the lockdowns have severely impacted economic output and heightened domestic macroeconomic vulnerabilities with GDP growth for Q2 2020 contracting by 6.10 per cent compared to 1.87 per cent growth in Q1, 2020, a decline of -7.9per cent,” he said.