The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the bankers committee have approved N200 billion as parts of measures to address challenges confronting exports of agricultural produce in the country.
Speaking to financial journalists after the bankers committee meeting in Lagos yesterday the Managing Director Access Bank Herbert Wigwe said the CBN and banks have come up with an immediate plans of making fund available for agric export subsectors and its value chain.
The fund according to the banks will be in a single digit with ten year period.
The products that will be targeted according to the committee, includes, Oil Palm, Cocoa, Cashew Nut, Sesame Seed among others. The committee expects the exports of these products which is in abundant across the country to boost our foreign exchange earnings.
The committee also disclosed their plan to also pay attention to the creative industry and ICT. Speaking on this issue Managing Director of United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA, Kennedy Uzoka the banks would release the amount later but said it will be a single digit facility with ten years period.
He said the collateral for the loan would be flexible based on the value chain and the experience of the individual or persons concerned, noting that emphasis will be on practitioners that are in the business full time. The areas are movie, music, fashion and information technology.
The Bankers Committee said after a lot of research it has identified the creative and IT sectors as a critical to support social and inclusive growth in Nigeria, saying they have basically found out that the sector would generate a significant amount of employment given how Nigerians involved in activities such as films and music among others.
On the general economy, Director, Banking Supervision Department, CBN, Mr Ahmed Abdullahi said the confidence in the system and the economy at large is growing by the day. He noted that lending has increased, especially to the manufacturing sector.
According to him between January and March 2019, foreign direct investment that came into the country was $6 billion.
Managing Director GT Bank, Segun Agbaje said there was the need for our economy to leverage export in agric produce, especially as we take steps to process them for more benefit.
He said the support for the export sector was an outcome of the sub- committee setup by the bankers committee on how best to diversify the economy.
According we have policies that would drive the export sector, but implementation has been the major challenge
Other Chief Executive of Banks present at the media briefing include,are Managing Director of Ecobank Nigeria, Patrick Akinwuntan and the Director of Corporate Communication Department of the CBN, Mr Isaac Okorafor.