Business, Featured
By Benprince Ezeh
THE Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has set aside another N300 billion Target Credit Facility, TCF, for households, Small and Medium Enterprises, SMEs, through the Nigerian Incentive-based Risk Sharing System for Agriculture Lending, NIRSAL, and Bank.
Godwin Emefiele, Governor of CBN stated this in his keynote address at the 30th Seminar for Finance Correspondents and Business Editors, FICAN, in Abuja on Saturday, March 20, 2021.
Emefiele, who was represented by the Deputy Governor, Corporate Services, Edward Adamu, stated that in line with the growing need to go digital, the application processes are done online, which requires limited paperwork from prospective applicants.
“The CBN has equally made bold moves to alleviate the plight of households and business owners and drive economic growth during the pandemic, created a N150 billion TCF, for affected households and SMEs, through the NIRSAL Microfinance Bank.
“Already, N149.21 billion has been disbursed to 316,869 beneficiaries. Given the resounding success of this programme and its positive impact on output growth, we have decided to double this fund to about N300 billion in order to accommodate many more beneficiaries and boost consumer expenditure which should positively stimulate the economy.
On the issue of remittances, the CBN governor explained that the bank has continued to improve its remittance infrastructure to provide Nigerians in the diaspora with cheaper, convenient and faster channels for remitting funds to beneficiaries in Nigeria.
He said to reduce the cost of remitting funds into Nigeria, the CBN on March 8, 2021 introduced a refund of N5 for every $1 remitted into the country through IMTOs licensed by the CBN.
“We believe this measure would help to support improved foreign exchange inflows and enable Nigerians in the diaspora to use more formal channels relative to informal channels.
These measures are not new as several countries have adopted similar measures to reduce the cost of remitting fund by their diaspora community, which has led to surges in remittance inflows through formal channels,” he said.
Emefiele concluded by saying that the media has an important role to play in educating the public on how best to leverage the digital economy to drive growth, job creation, and sustainable development in the midst of a global pandemic.
“It is, therefore, my expectation that at the end of the sessions, participants would have acquired an in-depth understanding of the subject matter and would better appreciate the Bank’s commitment to economic growth and development,” the governor added.
The theme of the seminar was ‘Leveraging digital economy to drive growth, job creation, and sustainable development in the midst of a global pandemic’
– Mar. 23, 2021 @ 10:09 GMT
Tags: CBN to extend N300bn credit facility to households SMEs
