The Bank of Industry (BoI) and Nigeria Export-Import (NEXIM) Bank have committed N101.06 billion to development finance interventions in the real sector, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said.

The funds are meant to drive job creation, economic recovery and household welfare, the apex bank announced in its 2021 half-year economic report.

In six months under review, BoI disbursed N77 billion to the industrial sector while NEXIM Bank released  N24.06 billion for projects.

Sectoral analysis of disbursements by BoI showed that the agricultural sector received N17.74 billion (74 per cent), the manufacturing sector   N4.82 billion (20 per cent) and solid minerals, N1.5 billion (six per cent).

The funds that went to large enterprises stood at N67.1 billion, representing 87.1 per cent of total disbursements.  Small and medium enterprises got N9.9 billion (12.9 per cent).

CBN explained in the report that the total credit provided to the non-oil export sector under the various lending facilities of the NEXIM Bank was N24.06 billion, compared with N18.1 billion in respect of 23 projects in the first half of 2020.

The apex bank attributed the increased disbursement to new products, such as the Small and Medium Enterprises Export Facility (SMEEF),   Women and Youth Export Facility (WAYEF), and an uptick in economic activities.

“The breakdown of the disbursement by facility showed that trade finance, rediscounting and refinancing, foreign input, and local input facilities accounted for 46.5 per cent, 23.4 per cent, 23 per cent and 7.1 per cent, respectively,” the bank said.

A sectoral analysis of the BoI disbursements shows that the creative industry received N16.5 billion (21.4 per cent); renewable energy, N15.8 billion (20.5 per cent); engineering and technology, N9.4 billion (12.2 per cent); gender business, N8.7 billion (11.3 per cent); and, agro-processing, N8.1 billion (10.5 per cent).

Others are food processing, N5.3 billion (6.9 per cent); oil and gas sector, N5.1 billion (6.6 per cent); and healthcare and petrochemicals sector, N4.6 billion (6.0 per cent). Furthermore, solid minerals and financial services received N2.2 billion (2.9 per cent) and N1.3 billion (1.7 per cent), respectively.

As part of its policy measures to cushion the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on businesses, households and financial institutions, the CBN had extended the interest rate concession and moratorium on its interventions to February 28, 2022.

The bank also reviewed its guidelines for the implementation of the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) with the objectives of enhancing participation, improving repayments, and contributing significantly to national food output.

Under the programme, it disbursed N179.30 billion to 1,008,457 smallholder farmers, compared to  N149.01 billion disbursed to 810,583   in the first half of 2020.

The increase in ABP activities, the CBN said, was due to renewed focus on large-scale anchors to improve the programme’s potential for job creation and welfare enhancement.

The CBN also sustained its interventions in the manufacturing sector through two programmes, namely COVID-19 Intervention for Manufacturing Sector (CIMS) and Real Sector Support Facility – Differentiated Cash Reserve Requirement (RSSF- DCRR).

The CIMS and RSSF-DCRR supported 16 and 32 greenfield projects, respectively, valued at N35.99 billion and N199.69 billion, compared with 42 and 59 projects, valued at N77.41 billion and N137.49 billion, respectively, in the first half of 2020. Repayment under RSSF-DCRR was N41.97 billion, compared with N11.65 billion in the first half of 2020.

The Healthcare Sector Intervention Facility (HSIF) financed 23 projects, valued at N25.16 billion, in the first half of 2021, compared with N20.96 billion for 15 projects in the first half of 2020. The intervention led to increased hospital bed spaces, improved healthcare delivery, and supported the acquisition of over 45 Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machines and 36 Computed Tomography (CT) scanners.

The CBN also supported businesses and households adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, as it disbursed N144.93 billion to 323,634 beneficiaries, compared with 70,953 beneficiaries in the first half of 2020. Cumulatively, the Targeted Credit Facility (TCF) has supported 641,134 beneficiaries, comprising 539,446 households and 101,688 SMEs, since its inception in 2020.