Godwin Emefiele, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, announced that the bank has disbursed N370 billion through its Targeted Credit Facility.
He made the announcement at the 2021 annual Bankers’ Committee retreat in Lagos, which had the theme ‘Building resilience for economic growth.’
According to the CBN governor, the CBN’s initiatives helped to spur and support the economy’s recovery and realign general macroeconomic conditions.
Emefiele stated that the N1 trillion facility established for local manufacturing and production in critical areas is funding 53 manufacturing, 21 agricultural, and 13 service projects.
According to Emefiele, a N200 billion healthcare intervention fund has been established for pharmaceutical companies and healthcare practitioners to expand and strengthen the country’s healthcare institutions.
He stated that, given its responsibility to promote a healthy monetary and financial system and collaborate with fiscal authorities, the CBN took extraordinary measures to control the effects of the pandemic on the economy and promoted greater productivity in critical sectors.
He stated that in order to control the downturn and accelerate Nigeria’s economic recovery, the monetary and fiscal authorities put in place a series of policy measures that helped the country’s growth rebound in the fourth quarter of 2020.
He stated that as a result of policy actions, the country exited recession in the fourth quarter of 2020 with a 0.11 percent growth rate, which improved to 0.51 percent in Q1 2021.
“On the back of this recovery, the CBN remains focused on strengthening the fundamentals of the Nigerian economy,” he said, “by employing mostly innovative and sometimes extraordinary measures to diversify the economy, boost domestic productivity, and reduce our reliance on imports.”
“While the economy is improving, growth remains fragile and falls short of potential.”
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