Uche Usim, Owerri

The Deputy Governor, Corporate Services of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Edward Adamu, has revealed that the plethora of economic interventions of the apex bank have saved the federal government about N1.3 trillion via import bills. 

He said the savings came from improving domestic supply of four commodities (rice, fish, sugar, and wheat), which hitherto consumed about N1.3 trillion annually.

Adamu made the disclosure at the opening ceremony of the 28th seminar for finance correspondents and Business Editors holding in Owerri, the Imo State capital.

He said: “We have also improved access to markets for farmers by facilitating greater partnership with agro-processors and industrial firms in the sourcing of raw materials. So far, the programme has supported more than 1.5 million farmers across all the 36 states of Nigeria, in cultivating 16 different commodities over 1.4 million hectares of farmland. It has also supported the creation of over 2.5 million jobs across the agricultural value chain.”

Adamu further revealed that the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) which was launched in November 2015, was designed to build partnerships between small holder farmers and reliable large-scale agro-processors, with a view to increasing agricultural output, while improving access to credit for farmers.

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“Our targeted focus on the agricultural and manufacturing sectors was driven by the vast opportunities for growth in these sectors given our high population. These sectors have the ability to absorb the growing pool of eligible workers in our effort to meet local demand and save critical foreign reserves.

“For many countries, the objectives of monetary policies are explicitly stated in the laws establishing the Central Bank, while for others, they are not. The objectives of monetary policy may vary from country to country.

“Though we adopted unconventional or heterodox monetary policies, they were however, well thought through and have been yielding significant gains for the  economy. Noticeably, the GDP recovery in the third quarter of 2017, which has been sustained for nine successive quarters after five consecutive quarters of negative growth,” Adamu said.

He said the unconventional monetary policy initiatives have been premised on ensuring credit delivery to critical sectors of the economy.

“This has informed the directive to Deposit Money Banks to maintain a minimum Loan to Deposit Ratio (LDR) of 65percent by the end of December 2019. The bank is also creating the necessary eco-system to inculcate a better credit culture among Nigerians.