The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said it has extended single-digit interest of its various Intervention facilities to 1st March 2023.
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The Governor of the apex bank, Mr Godwin Emefiele, made this known during a Bankers Committee meeting in Abuja on Thursday.
What this means is that the CBN has extended the 5% interest rate on its various Loan Intervention Programmes to 1st March 2023.
Recall that the apex bank had in 2021 extended the 5% interest rate on various Intervention Loan Facilities such as COVID-19 Targeted Credit Facility Loan, AGSMEIS Loan, Anchor Borrowers Programme Loan and the Nigeria Youth Investment Fund Loan Scheme till 1st March 2022, after which it would revert to 9% across the duration of the loan.
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“Although interest rates on our various intervention facilities are expected to revert to 9% effective March 1, 2022, we are announcing that the rates will remain at 5% for another year, Emefiele recently stated.
“In effect, the concessionary interest rate of 5% on our intervention loan facilities will now be extended until March 1, 2023,” he added.
Emefiele noted that the apex bank will be reviewing the intervention programmes in order to ensure they continue to achieve the desired goals, adding that this is necessary due to the promising trajectory the bank has established in economic growth and job creation.
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He disclosed that the Central Bank of Nigeria has disbursed loans worth N3Trillion as intervention loans across its intervention programmes through the working synergy between the apex bank, the Database Management Systems, and participating financial institutions.
According to the CBN Governor, the apex bank had disbursed N948 billion to 4,478,381 smallholder farmers who cultivated 5.2 million hectares of farmland across the country, under the Anchor Borrowers Programme, which has created about 12.5 million direct and indirect jobs.
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He added that “under its Targeted Credit Facility, meant to help households and businesses that suffered significant losses during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Bank disbursed N368.79 billion to 778,000 beneficiaries comprising 648,052 households, and about 130,000 SMEs”
He noted that “under the AGSMEIS programme, which caters to SMEs in agribusiness, a total of N134.63 billion was released to 37,571 SME projects, of which 67% were directly agriculture-related projects, 22.5% in services, while the balance was in fashion, Information Technology and related sub-sectors.”
Emefiele in the breakdown stated that the bank had also deployed N1.452 trillion to 337 projects in agriculture, manufacturing, services and mining under the Real Sector Support Facility.
Originally published by Myinfoclock