The Central Bank of Nigeria has disbursed N68.13bn to beneficiaries under its 100-for-100 Policy on Production and Productivity since the commencement of the intervention.
According to the bank, the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, disclosed this in Lagos after the last Monetary Policy Committee meeting.
“Furthermore, under the 100 for 100 Policy on Production and Productivity, the Bank has released N9.98bn for five projects, bringing the cumulative disbursements under the intervention to N68.13bn for 48 projects, comprising 26 in manufacturing, 17 in agriculture, three in healthcare and two in the services sector,” he said.
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 CBN stated in the guideline that the initiative would select 100 private sector companies with projects that have 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.
“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.
The apex bank said the initiative would be implemented in collaboration with relevant stakeholders, with a focus on micro and macroeconomic impacts, in terms of contribution to GDP and exports, sustainable jobs created, local content development, production output, and capacity utilisation and integration into the global value chain.
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 foreign exchange-earning capacity of the economy.
It said focal 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.