The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has reversed the reduction of interest rate payable on all its interventions facilities to nine per cent per annum.
The bank had, at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic reduced interest rate on all its interventions facilities from 9 percent to five per cent.
However, yesterday’s circular with reference: FPR/DIR/PUB/CIR/001/058, issued, by the Director of Financial Policy and regulation Department, Mr. Chibuzo Efobi, the apex bank has now returned the rate from five per cent to its original nine per cent.
The circular titled, “Adjustment of interest rate on all Central Bank of Nigeria Interventions,” was addressed to all banks and Other Financial Institutions.
According to the circular, “Further to our circular dated March 1, 2022 (Ref: FPR/DIR/PUB/CIR/001/040) extending the period of interest rate reduction on all intervention facilities from nine per cent to five percent per annum (as part of measures to mitigate the negative impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the Nigerian economy), the Central Bank of Nigeria hereby reverts the interest rate on all its intervention facilities to nine per cent per annum.
“The reversed rate shall be implemented as follows: all intervention facilities granted effective July 20, 2022 shall be at nine per cent per annum; all existing intervention facilities granted prior to July 20, 2022, shall be at 9 per cent per annum.
CBN data showed that the apex bank disbursed N75.9 billion loan to farmers between November and December 2021, under the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP).
The fund was to support the cultivation of over 383,000 hectares of maize, rice and wheat during the 2022 dry season, bringing the cumulative disbursements under the Programme to N927.94 billion to over 4.5 million smallholder farmers cultivating 21 commodities across the country.
In a CBN report, the apex bank said all excess output aggregated from the financed farmers will be released to the Nigeria Commodity Exchange (NCX) to help moderate the prices of food in the market.
The bank also released N1.76 billion to finance two large-scale agricultural projects under the Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme (CACS).
In addition, the apex bank disbursed the sum of N151.23 billion under the Real Sector Facility to 15 additional projects in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, and services. The funds were utilized for both greenfield and brownfield (expansion) projects under the Covid-19 Intervention for the Manufacturing Sector (CIMS) and the Real Sector Support Facility from Differentiated Cash Reserve Requirement (RSSF-DCRR).
According to the report, cumulative disbursements under the Real Sector Facility currently stood at N1.40 trillion disbursed to 331 projects across the country. As part of its effort to support the resilience of the healthcare sector, the Bank also disbursed N498.00 million to two (2) healthcare projects under the Healthcare Sector Intervention Facility (HSIF), bringing the cumulative disbursements to N108.85 billion for 118 projects, comprising of 31 pharmaceuticals, 82 hospital and 4 other services.
To support households and businesses affected by Covid-19, the bank disbursed N20.29 billion to 40,521 beneficiaries, comprising 35,340 households and 5,181 small businesses under the Targeted Credit Facility (TCF) within the period.
According to the apex bank, the cumulative disbursements under the TCF stood at N369.78 billion to 777,666 beneficiaries, comprising 648,052 households and 129,614 small businesses. To further promote entrepreneurship development among Nigerian youths, the Bank disbursed N293 million to 59 beneficiaries under the recently introduced Tertiary Institutions Entrepreneurship Scheme (TIES).
Under the National Mass Metering Programme (NMMP), the sum of N47.83 billion was disbursed for the procurement and installation of 858,026 electricity meters across the country under the Scheme’s Phase-0.
There is also improved collections by DisCos as a result of increased meter installations. The Bank released N274.33 billion to power sector players, as part of its effort to support the sector under the Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trading Payment Assurance Facility (NBET-PAF).
This was in addition to the N20.58 billion released to Distribution Companies (DisCos) under the Nigeria Electricity Market Stabilisation Facility – Phase 2 (NEMSF-2). To further support the development of enabling infrastructure in the gas industry, the Bank released additional N3.00 billion for the augmentation of an existing infrastructure, bringing the cumulative disbursements under the Intervention Facility for National Gas Expansion Programme (IFNGEP) to N42.20 billion for six projects.
