CBN Disburses N151 Billion To Boost Projects Under Real Sector Facility

The Central Bank of Nigeria has said that it disbursed the sum of N151.23 billion under the real sector facility to 15 projects in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, and services.

This was contained in the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Communique No. 140 of the Monetary Policy Committee meeting held on Monday and Tuesday.

Reviewing the performance of the Bank’s intervention programmes aimed at stimulating productivity in manufacturing/industries, agriculture, energy/infrastructure, healthcare and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), the apex bank said 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).

 

What CBN is saying about the projects

Cumulative disbursements under the Real Sector 5 Facility currently stood at N1.40 trillion disbursed to 331 projects across the country

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 hospitals and 4 other services as part of its effort to support the resilience of the healthcare sector.

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 to support households and businesses affected by Covid-19 bringing the cumulative disbursements under the TCF to stand at N369.78 billion to 777,666 beneficiaries, comprising 648,052 households and 129,614 small businesses.

The Bank disbursed N293 million to 59 beneficiaries under the recently introduced Tertiary Institutions Entrepreneurship Scheme (TIES) to further promote entrepreneurship development among Nigerian youths.

CBN disbursed N75.99 billion to support the cultivation of over 383,000 hectares of maize, rice and wheat bringing the cumulative disbursements under the Programme to N927.94 billion to over 4.5 million smallholder farmers cultivating 21 commodities across the country between November and December 2021, under the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP).

The Bank also released N1.76 billion to finance two (2) large-scale agricultural projects under the Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme (CACS).

What you should know

The real sector support facility is a special intervention fund of N300 billion which is established by the Federal Government through the CBN to address concerns around the financing needs of start-ups as well as expansion projects of large enterprises of N500 million up to a maximum of N10 billion.

The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria also called on the FG to halt the planned N10 naira per litre tax on sweetened and non-alcoholic beverages (Sugar Tax) which was proposed by the Finance Minister as part of its recent Domestic Revenue Mobilisation.

The revenue aspirations of the government in introducing this excise may not be justified in the long run.”

“It will raise production costs, which in turn adversely affect production levels and intimately result in dwindling profits,” MAN added.

Taiwo Oyedele, Fiscal Policy Partner and Africa Tax Leader, PwC, at the Nigerian Economic Outlook 2022 stated that the planned N10 naira per litre tax on sweetened and non-alcoholic beverages (Sugar Tax) as part of its recent Domestic Revenue Mobilisation may see an increase in the retail cost of beverages by 5%.

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