Contrary to insinuations about the willingness of farmers to pay up their loans, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says farmers who accessed credit under its Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) have started repaying the loans.
According to the apex bank, as at the end of March , a total of N33.34 billion had been released through 12 participating finance institutions to 146,557 farmers in 21 states who were cultivating over 180,018 hectares of land.
Out of the sum, about N15.137 billion disbursed to 73,941 Kebbi State farmers was due for repayment with N7.119 billion, representing 47 per cent, repaid and returned to CBN.
The balance of N18.203 billion of the 12- month tenored loans released to farmers in the other 20 states for wet and dry seasons have not fallen due for repayment. However, farmers in other benefiting states have also commenced the repayment to the tune of N1.238 billion which is already with the CBN.
Meanwhile, CBN said yesterday that authorized dealers were able to subscribe to $65.94 million out of the $100 million offered at the inter-bank wholesale transactions, just as it promised to lift the suspension on banks sanctioned on the SMEs issue immediately any of them show evidence of significant utilization of the SMEs fund allocated to them.
The apex bank also said on Wednesday that it offered another $150 million to be auctioned at the wholesale windows of the inter-bank market. While stressing that CBN was nearing its goal of rate convergence between official and Bureau de Change(BDCs), Okorafor gave the assurance that the apex bank would sustain the current levels of interventions in all segments of the forex market.
He stated that CBN was in receipt of requests submitted by authorized dealers on behalf of customers for interventions in the retail segment of the market.
ABP: Farmers repay over N7bn
