The Central Bank of Nigeria has disbursed N114.17bn to beneficiaries under its 100-for-100 Policy on Production and Productivity since the commencement of the intervention.

This was disclosed in a communiqué issued by the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, after the last Monetary Policy Committee meeting held in Abuja.

He stated that the funds were expended on 71 projects across healthcare, manufacturing and agriculture sectors.

“Furthermore, under the 100 for 100 Policy on Production and Productivity, the Bank has disbursed the sum of N20.78 billion to nine projects in healthcare, manufacturing, and services. This brings the cumulative disbursements under the facility to N114.17 billion to 71 projects across healthcare, manufacturing, services and agriculture,” he said.

The CBN programme, launched in January 2022, is for a select 100 private sector companies with projects that have the potential to significantly increase domestic production and productivity, reduce imports, increase non-oil exports, and overall improvements in the foreign exchange generating capacity of the Nigerian economy.

According to the guidelines for the implementation of the initiative, the CBN fixed the maximum loan amount that a participant could get at N5bn.

“The initiative, which shall be bank-led, will be rolled over every 100 days (that is, quarterly) with a new set of companies selected for financing under the initiative,” it stated.

In collaboration with relevant stakeholders, the apex bank said the initiative would be implemented with a focus on micro- and macro-economic impacts, including the creation of sustainable jobs, the development of local content, production output, capacity utilisation and integration into global value chains.

“Loan amount shall be a maximum of N5bn per obligor. Any amount above N5bn shall require the special approval of CBN’s management,” it said.

According to the guidelines, the broad objective of the initiative is to reverse the nation’s over-reliance on imports, by creating an ecosystem that targets and supports the right projects with the potential to transform and catalyse the productive base of the economy.

Highlighting the specific objectives of the initiative, the CBN said it was designed to catalyse import substitution of targeted commodities, increase local production and productivity, increase non-oil exports, and improve the foreign exchange-earning capacity of the economy.

It said key activities covered under the initiative would be existing businesses and projects (brownfield) with the potential to immediately transform and catalyse the productive base of the economy, and new projects (greenfield) with equal potential may be considered under the initiative, subject to CBN management’s approval. (The PUNCH)

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