CBN Disburses 92.4% Of N400bn Targeted Credit Facility

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, has said the bank has disbursed N370bn out of the N400bn provided under its Targeted Credit Facility.

Emefiele said this on Tuesday during the 2021 annual Bankers’ Committee retreat in Lagos, with the theme, ‘Building resilience for economic growth’.

He said to contain the downturn and drive the recovery of Nigeria’s economy, the monetary and fiscal authorities deployed series of policy measures that had aided the rebound in Nigeria’s growth, beginning in the fourth quarter of 2020.

“Other CBN policy measures that we took to help the economy recover include creation of a N400bn Targeted Credit Facility for households and small and medium enterprises. Of this, nearly N370bn has been released to over 800,000 beneficiaries,” he said.

According to him, 53 manufacturing, 21 agriculture-related and 13 service projects are being funded from the N1tn facility introduced for local manufacturing and production in critical sectors.

Emefiele noted that a N200bn healthcare intervention fund was created for pharmaceutical companies and healthcare practitioners to expand and strengthen the capacity of the country’s healthcare institutions.

He said given its mandate to promote a sound monetary and financial system and working with the fiscal authorities, the CBN took unprecedented measures to contain the effects of the pandemic on the economy and spurred increased productivity in key sectors.

He said the CBN collaborated with the fiscal authorities to formulate strong policy support measures through the Economic Sustainability Plan to restore stability and catalyse growth.

According to the CBN governor, the initiatives introduced by the CBN helped to spur and support the recovery of the economy and realign general macroeconomic conditions.

He noted that owing to the policy actions, the country exit recession in the fourth quarter of 2020 with a growth rate of 0.11 per cent, which improved to 0.51 per cent in Q1 2021.

He said, “On the back of this recovery, the CBN remains focused on strengthening the fundamentals of the Nigerian economy, by using mostly innovative and sometimes extraordinary measures to diversify the economy, boost domestic productivity, and reduce our import dependence.

“Though the economy is recovering, growth remains fragile, below potential.”