The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says a total volume of 557,083,712 electronic-payment transactions valued at N34.02 trillion were recorded in selected banks across the country in the first quarter, 2019.

The NBS said this in a Selected Banking Sector Data: Sectorial Breakdown of Credit, ePayment Channels and Staff Strength data posted on its website.

The bureau said Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) Instant Payments (NIP) transactions dominated the volume of transactions recorded; 232,816,102 volume of NIP transactions valued at N24.17 trillion were recorded in the quarter under review.

It, however, said in terms of credit to private sector, the total value of credit allocated by the bank stood at N15.21 trillion as at first quarter, 2019.

It said Oil and Gas and Manufacturing sectors got credit allocation of N3.49 trillion and N2.23 trillion to record the highest credit allocation as at the period under review.

Also, the total number of banks staff increased by 0.33 per cent quarter-on-quarter from 104,669 in fourth quarter, 2018 to 105,017 in first quarter, 2019 (NAN)