The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN has said that out of the N220 billion Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development, MSMED, Fund available, about N50 billion is still available for easy access.
The Senior Manager, Development Finance Department of CBN, Mr Chinedu Zephaniah, who spoke at a workshop organised by Bankers Committee on Funding Nigeria’s SMEs, said CBN has about N3 trillion earmarked for economic development, out of which N220 billion is targeted at SMEs.
He stated: “At the moment, we have disbursed N170 billion to support SMEs, but the percentage of people that pay back their loans at the appropriate time is not encouraging.”
Zephaniah said when people pay back as at when due, it will avail others the opportunity to access the fund.
“To access the intervention fund of the CBN all you need to do is to convince your bank that when you take you will pay back,’’ he added.
Corroborating this view, Head of Business Banking in Standard Charter Bank, Mr. Benjamin Dike said: “As SMEs, if you collect money to create wealth and you refund the money as at when due, the confidence of lending institutions will be high and there will be tangible growth.”