Economic diversification: CBN releases N19.15bn to fund five agric projects under CACS
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has announced the release of about N19.15 billion to finance five large-scale agricultural projects under the Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme (CACS).
This, according to the apex bank, was in the economic blueprint of diversifiying the countries economy.
This intervention brings the total disbursements under the Scheme to N735.17 billion for 671 projects in agro-production and agro-processing.
The CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, made the revelation in Abuja at the last Monetary Policy Committee meeting.
The bank also disbursed N428.31 billion under the N1.0 trillion Real Sector Facility to 37 additional projects in the manufacturing, agriculture, and services sectors.
The funds sourced from the Real Sector Support Facility-Differentiated Cash Reserve Requirement (RSSF-DCRR), were utilised for both greenfield and brownfield (expansion) projects under the COVID-19 intervention for the Manufacturing Sector (CIMS).
Emefiele further revealed that cumulative disbursements under the Real Sector Facility currently stand at N1.75 trillion, disbursed to 368 projects across the country.
“Under the 100 for 100 Policy on Production and Productivity (PPP), the Bank has disbursed the sum of N29.51 billion to 31 projects, comprising 16 in manufacturing, 13 in agriculture, and 2 in healthcare.
“As part of its effort to support the resilience of the healthcare sector, the Bank also disbursed N8.50 billion to 6 healthcare projects under the Healthcare Sector Intervention Facility (HSIF), bringing the cumulative disbursements to N116.72 billion for 124 projects, comprising of 31 pharmaceuticals, 56 hospitals, and 37 other services. An additional tranche of N14.7 million was disbursed to 5 researchers under the Healthcare Sector Research and Development (HSRD) Grant.
“The Bank disbursed N21.66billion to 19,685 beneficiaries, comprising 12,044 households and 7,641 small businesses under the Targeted Credit Facility (TCF) within the period to support families and small businesses during the pandemic.
“The cumulative disbursements under the TCF stood at N390.45 billion to 797,351 beneficiaries, comprising 660,096 households and 137,255 small businesses.
“The Bank disbursed N11.11billion to power sector players, under the Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trading Payment Assurance Facility (NBET-PAF), bringing the cumulative disbursements under this facility to N1.28 trillion.
“The sum of ¦ 12.64 billion was also released to Distribution Companies (DisCos) under the Nigeria Electricity Market Stabilisation Facility — Phase 2 (NEMSF-2).”
As at today, cumulative disbursement under the NEMSF-2 has reached about N232.93 billion with “Both interventions were designed to improve access to capital and ease the development of enabling infrastructure in the Nigeria Electricity Supply Industry,” the CBN Governor revealed.
