Friday, March 29, 2024

Intervention programmes: CBN disburses N9trn in three years

BY BAMIDELE FAMOOFO

The Central Bank of Nigeria has disbursed about N9trillion into the economy under its various intervention programmes in the last three years.

The Monetary Policy Committee, which commended the CBN for injecting funds into the economy to stimulate growth, however asked the Bank to consider the inflationary impact of such disbursements on the economy going forward.

The MPC increased the base lending rate to 15.5 percent from 14.0 percent on Tuesday in a dire move to check inflation growth in the country. It should be noted that the CBN offers a special concession to beneficiaries of the intervention funds at an interest rate of 9.0 percent.

“In Nigeria, output growth had been sustained as a result of the combination of development finance interventions by the Bank and fiscal stimulus by the Federal Government.  Members noted that in the last 3 years, the CBN has injected over N9 trillion into the economy, in addition to offering 2- year moratorium for 10-year long-term loan facilities.  The Committee believes that these interventions have significantly helped engendered growth. However, in light of the persisting pressures on inflation, the Committee encouraged the Bank maintain a close watch on the inflationary implications of the interventions,” MPC said in a communiqué issued after the meeting.

Breakdown of the interventions to date showed that under the Real Sector Facility, the Bank released the sum of N66.99 billion to 12 additional projects in manufacturing and agriculture. Cumulative disbursements under the Real Sector Support Facility (RSSF) currently stood at N2.10 trillion disbursed to 426 projects across the country.

Furthermore, under the 100 for 100 Policy on Production and Productivity (PPP), the Bank disbursed the sum of N20.17 billion to 14 projects in healthcare, manufacturing, and services, bringing the cumulative disbursement under the facility to N93.39 billion to 62 projects. In the healthcare sector, N4.00 billion was disbursed to two (2) healthcare projects under the Healthcare Sector Intervention Facility (HSIF), bringing the cumulative disbursement to N130.54 billion for 131 projects, comprising of 32 pharmaceuticals, 60 hospitals and 39 other services. Under the Export Facilitation Initiative (EFI), the Bank funded several commodity projects in the non-oil export segment for value-addition and production to the tune of N3.24 billion, aside the N50.00 billion disbursed through the Nigerian Export Import Bank (NEXIM).

In the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) sector, the Bank supported entrepreneurship development with the sum of N39.26 million under the Tertiary Institutions Entrepreneurship Scheme (TIES), bringing the total disbursement under this intervention to N332.43 million. Under the Intervention Facility for the National Gas Expansion Programme (IFNGEP), the Bank disbursed N1.00 billion to support the adoption of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) as the preferred fuel for transportation and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) as the preferred cooking fuel.

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