CBN disburses N253bn to 548,345 Nigerians, SMEs

The Central Bank of Nigeria said it has disbursed N253 billion to no fewer than 548,345 households in the country as part of its response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The apex bank revealed this on Thursday through its acting Director Corporate Communications, Osita Nwanisobi, who spoke at the bank’s special day at the ongoing 42nd Kaduna International Trade Fair.

Nwanisobi, noted that the beneficiaries comprised 470,969 households and 77,376 Small and Medium Enterprises. Represented by the Branch Controller, Kaduna, Ahmed Mohammed Wali, the DCC disclosed further that the bank reduced its interest rate on CBN intervention loans from nine to five percent to encourage more lending and initially created an N150 billion Targeted Credit Facility (TCF) for affected households and SME’s through the NIRSAL microfinance Bank.

He explained that “about 29,026 beneficiaries have accessed N111.7 billion under the Agri-business/Small and Medium Enterprises Investment Scheme (AGSMEIS).

Under the National Youth Investment Fund, 7,057 beneficiaries comprising 4,411 individuals and 2,646 SMEs have so far accessed the scheme. The Creativity Industry Financing Initiative (CIFI) has also provided loan facilities for 341 beneficiaries across movie production, movie distribution, music and software development.”

Nwanisobi also shared that about 3.1 million farmers have benefited from the anchor borrowers programme as of April 2020. He said, “The Anchor Borrowers Programme was able to provide intervention facilities to 3,107,949 smallholder farmers who cultivated 3.8 million hectares of land.

“We, therefore, enjoin Nigerians, particularly women and youths, to cue into our bouquet of intervention programmes and take advantage of schemes such as the ABP; Targeted Credit Facility (TCF); Commodity Development Initiative (CDI); Creative Industry Financing Initiative (CIFI); Micro Small and Medium Enterprises Development Facility (MSMEDF); and the Agric-business/Small and Medium Enterprises Investment Scheme (AGSMEIS).”

According to the director, the CBN will continue to sustain its interventions in the critical sectors of the economy, particularly in
Agriculture, Manufacturing, MSMEs, Infrastructure, Creative Industry, Health, etc; to facilitate strong economic growth and development of the country.

He added that the apex bank was working with the fiscal authority to improve the investment climate towards attracting Foreign Direct Investment.