CBN issues audited accounts; realizes N245 bn income in two years

The Central Bank of Nigeria on Friday published its audited financial statements for 2013 and 2014, saying it realized a total of N245 billion incomes for the period.

The consolidated and separate financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2014 revealed that the bank’s net income for 2013 stood at about N209.6 billion, as against N35.4 billion realized for 2014.

The 2014 results showed that the net income for the year stood at N35.4 billion, while the bank’s net income was N33.89 billion.

From the net figure, the bank said 80 per cent of the earnings have since been remitted to the Federal Government in accordance with the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2011, which requires government agencies to transfer 80 per cent of their operating surplus to the federation account.

The balance of 20 per cent, the CBN said, was also transferred to its reserves.

While announcing the publication, the CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, said the two financial statements were approved by its board in accordance with the provisions of the CBN Act 2007.

Mr. Emefiele said the statements were the first to be prepared in line with the International Financial Reporting Standards, which the Bank has fully adopted.

The IFRS, which is one of the financial reporting frameworks internationally recognized and accepted, mandates adopters of the framework to prepare consolidated financial statements.

The IFRS requirement, the governor said, implied that the financial statement of the CBN be consolidated with those of investee entities, namely Nigeria Export-Import Bank, Abuja Securities and Commodities Exchange, Bank of Industry, Bank of Agriculture, Nigeria Interbank Settlement System, National Economic Reconstruction Fund, Financial Markets Dealers Quotation, African Finance Corporation and Agricultural Credit Guarantee Fund.

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Mr. Emefiele said with the publication of the two statements, prepared under the CBN framework, the CBN now has full IFRS-compliant financial statements for the two years.

Hitherto, he said, the bank’s financial statements had been prepared under strenuous conditions, as the adoption of IFRS principles by central banks around the world do not always come not without difficulties.

He attributed this to a number of challenges that include the non-profit-oriented mandates of central banks in their roles of price and financial system stability and economic growth, which could be contradicted by the application of some of these IFRS standards for direct profit-motivated commercial entities.

He blamed the statutory constraints on the central banks, saying this accounted for why few central banks have adopted the IFRS.
He added that many of the central banks which claim IFRS adoption did so partially within statutory constraints.

The CBN, Mr. Emefiele explained, was able to work around these challenges to conclude a successful IFRS adoption within a period of two years, despite the fact that many of the IFRS adopting central or reserve banks took longer periods.