The subsidiary of South Africa’s banking group, RMB Nigeria, has raised its stake in the actualisation of the nation’s growth model – the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP), with investments, financing and range of products and services, worth billions of Naira.
The move, which is part of the bank’s role as a corporate and investment bank, has already seen the bank script a long-term strategy of supporting the economic blueprint in the six-sector targets to drive growth.
Speaking with the Managing Director of the bank, Michael Larbie, he said the decision to play big in the realisation of the document’s ideals stems from the belief that once the economy thrives, all the stakeholders will benefit, including his bank.
Already, RMB Nigeria has made remarkable contributions to all these sectors, thus helping to realise the increasing national productivity, growth in the economy, and diversifying production, as well as the gradual return of the overall fundamentals.
“Agriculture faces a number of challenges including limited access to financing, climate change, limited access to national and international markets, security threats and destruction of farmlands by herdsmen.
“RMB Nigeria has contributed to the sector by providing a trade and working capital facility to Olam Nigeria (flour business), and Wacot (cotton ginning).
It has also assisted in the creation of a local agricultural giant through advising the BUA Group on the sale of its wheat milling, pasta and flour manufacturing assets, which helped reduce food imports as it became a net exporter of major agricultural products.
“It has supported Nigeria’s ERGP by providing Indorama Eleme Petrochemicals funding to grow its fertilizer business to increase agriculture output, reduce reliance on fertilizer imports, and become an exporter of agriculture products,” a statement from the bank affirmed.
