CBN Restates Commitment To Industrial Growth

The Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN) has restated its commitment to the growth of  local businesses and industrial sector in the country.

Acting Director, Corporate Communications Department of the CBN, Mr Osita Nwanisobi, who conveyed the assurance  at the bank’s special day at the ongoing Enugu International Trade Fair,said that the apex bank created a N150bln targeted credit facility for small medium enterprises  through the NIRSAL Micro Finance Bank.

He said that the facility had since been doubled to about N300bln in order to accommodate more beneficiaries and boost consumer expenditure.

According to him, the bank in its bid to boost local manufacturing and production across the critical sectors of the economy established another  N1trn facility in loans.

He added:“Only a few weeks ago, we gave out the first batch of grants under the Health Sector Research and Development Intervention Scheme to five researchers in various medical fields”

He explained that the grant was designed to trigger intense national research and development activities to develop a Nigerian vaccine, drugs and herbal medicines against Coronavirus and other diseases.

In his remarks, President of Enugu Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ECCIMA) Emeka Nwandu,appealed to the apex bank to rescue the nation’s industrial sector from looming collapse.

He said a situation where businesses were left with no option than to access bank credit with interest rates of 25 per cent to 30 per cent was worrisome .

 Nwandu said that the prevailing situation had in no way helped in increasing the nation’s productive level, GDP and stability of the economy.

He said that the chamber was worried that the creation of the NIRSAL Micro Finance Bank had not positively affected the productive sector due to slow disbursement of funds.

He said “We commend the CBN for ensuring availability of credit facilities to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) by creating the NIRSAL Micro Finance Bank through which loans are disbursed at five per cent interest rate.

“We are, however, worried that the process and level of disbursement have been very slow and low, especially since the second quarter of 2020. This slow pace of disbursement will not in any way support the objectives of the scheme”.