BY VICTORIA ONU, ABUJA
THE Central Bank of Nigeria has said that it has so far disbursed a total of N2trn to cushion the negative impact of the Coronavirus pandemic on the economy.
The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, said this during the two-day Monetary Policy Committee meeting.
He said the amount was disbursed under the bank’s intervention programme to boost the operations of businesses and increase consumer spending.
Giving a breakdown of the intervention, Emefiele said, under the Anchor Borrowers Programme, N554.63bn had been disbursed to 2,849,490 beneficiaries since the inception of the programme, of which N61.02bn was allocated to 359,370 dry season farmers.
“Indeed, total disbursements as at January 2021 amounted to N2trn Covid-19 Targeted Credit Facility meant for household and small businesses,” he said.
He added that the bank had disbursed N106.96bn to 27,956 beneficiaries under the Agri-Business Small and Medium Enterprises Investment Scheme; while in the Health Care Support Intervention Facility, N72.96bn was disbursed to 73 projects that comprise 26 pharmaceutical projects and 47 Hospitals and Health Care Services Projects in the country.
To support the provision of employment opportunities for the Nigerian youth, the Governor also said the CBN provided financial support, through the Creative Industry Financing Initiative and Nigerian Youth Investment Fund, amounting to N3.12bn, with 320 beneficiaries; and N268m with 395 beneficiaries, respectively.
On enhancing power supply, Emefiele said the apex bank had, so far, provided N18.58bn for the procurement of 347,853 electricity reading meters to Discos in support of the National Mass Metering Programme.
On banking sector credit, he put the gross credit as of end-December 2020 at N25.02trn, compared with N24.25trn at the end of November 2020. This represents an increase of N774.28bn.
He said the Committee urged the Bank to sustain its current drive to improve access to credit to the private sector while exploring other complementary initiatives, in collaboration with the Federal Government, to improve funding to critical sectors of the economy.
