CBN, banks to disburse N60bn to vulnerable sectors —Emefiele

Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, has said that the apex bank in collaboration with Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) would in the comings days start moves to disburse N60 billion funds to vulnerable sectors of the country’s economy.

The CBN governor who stated this on Saturday, also disclosed that the national external reserves had amounted to over $47 billion from $46 billion weeks ago following the Federal Government concerted efforts to ensure that the economic growth of Nigeria is enhanced.

“In 2016, the banks came up with an initiative where they all agreed that they would contribute five per cent of their profit after tax to support the development initiatives of governments in Nigeria. By the middle of this year, the banks would have contributed N60bn into the fund.

“I can assure you all that in the next few days, the CBN together with the banks would be unfolding the disbursement to the vulnerable sectors in Nigeria,” Emefiele said.

Emefiele, who made this disclosure soon after being named the Economic Personality of the Year 2017 by The Guardian Newspapers in Lagos, added that some policy measures by the current administration have led to increased foreign exchange supply with over $20 billion inflow into the economy through Investors and Exporters window since inception in April 2017.

According to Emefiele, the development had led to “strong recovery of external reserves from just over $23bn in October 2016 to over $47bn as of today.”

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Recalling that a number of exogenous global shocks had exposed the vulnerabilities of the Nigerian economy over the last couple of years, he explained that the situation resulted in depressed Gross Domestic Product growth which led Nigeria’s economy into recession in 2016.

Further stating that the vulnerability of the Nigerian economy to those global shocks simply reflected the fact that the country was unable to sufficiently produce what it consumed, The CBN governor said that to counter the adverse effects of the global shocks, the apex bank had embarked on a number of short-term and long-term policies.

 

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