Nigeria have warned that the high cost of credit and rising production expenses remain major threats to the recovery of the manufacturing sector, despite a renewed improvement in manufacturers’ confidence in the economy.

This was revealed by the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) in its Manufacturers’ CEOs Confidence Index (MCCI) for the second quarter of 2026 (Q2’26).

Manufacturers’ CEOs identified limited access to finance as their primary challenge, with two in every three executives citing commercial bank lending rates as a major disincentive to manufacturing productivity. They also described the volume of credit available to the sector as inadequate.

The manufacturers linked the high cost of borrowing directly to the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) monetary policy stance, particularly the Monetary Policy Rate

According to the manufacturers, the prevailing high-interest-rate regime had increased the cost of credit and, by extension, production costs, weakening manufacturers’ ability to expand output, invest and create jobs.

The report noted that although the MPR had been reduced and maintained at 26.5 per cent, the rate remained too high to support the financing needs of the real sector.

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