Oyogist has learned that the International Monetary Fund, IMF, has disclosed thatNigerian banks closed 234 branches and 649 Automated Teller Machines, ATMs, in 2020.
The global lender disclosed this during its 2021 Financial Access Survey Trends and Developments, explaining that the mass shut down of bank branches and ATMs led to a decline in Nigeria’s Financial Access Score (FAS) to 4.44 in the year against 4.78 recorded in 2019.
According to data from the report, Nigeria recorded declines in these two critical FAS indicators and 12 other indicators among the 64 indicators measured by the FAS.
The report also stated that the decline was due to the closure of several commercial bank branches in Nigeria from 5,392 in 2019 to 5,158 in 2020.
