The Central Bank of Nigeria has disbursed over N300 billion to operators in the Small and Medium Enterprises space, together with the Healthcare, Agriculture, and Manufacturing sectors, among others to cushion the effects of the Coronavirus pandemic on their businesses.
This was disclosed in the communique issued by the Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank of Nigeria, which was read by the Governor of the apex bank, Godwin Emefiele, on Monday. It is important to note that the CA-COVID Private sector intervention scheme and other sector-specific facilities are not included in the disbursed fund.
While recognising the supportive developmental roles of the CBN towards addressing some structural issues amid COVID-19, the committee disclosed that the apex bank has disbursed N49.19 billion out of the N50 billion Household and SME facility to over 92,000 beneficiaries since the facility was launched in April 2020.
Also, the apex bank disbursed over N152.9 billion to the manufacturing sector to finance 61 manufacturing projects and another N93.6 billion to the Healthcare sector, amongst many other sector-specific facilities.
He said, “The N100 billion healthcare and N1.0 trillion manufacturing and agricultural interventions meant to support the rebound in growth from the impacts of the pandemic on the economy is laudable.”
The Committee further commended the CBN coordinated CA-COVID – Private sector intervention scheme, which had mobilized over N32 billion to support the economy, lives and livelihoods. It was hopeful that upon further drawdown of the intervention facilities, the much-needed reset and rebound of the Nigerian economy would become a reality.
Domestic credit
Emefiele added that the aggregate domestic credit (net) grew by 5.16% in June 2020 compared with 7.47% in May 2020. According to him, the Committee commended the CBN Loan-to-Deposit Ratio (LDR) initiative to address the credit conundrum, as the total gross credit increased by N3.33 trillion from N15.56 trillion at end-May 2019 to N18.90 trillion at end-June 2020.
He attributed the development to manufacturing, consumer credit, general commerce, information & communication and agriculture, which are productive sectors of the economy.
