By Chinwendu Obienyi

 

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said it has disbursed N745.31 billion to 680 projects in agro-production and processing projects under the Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme (CACS) since the commencement of its intervention.

Governor Godwin Emefiele, disclosed this in Abuja at the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting on Tuesday.

Reviewing the performance of the apex bank’s various interventions aimed at stimulating production and productivity across the real sector, Emefiele saidthat between September and October 2022 under the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP), the bank disbursed N41.02 billion to several agricultural projects, bringing the cumulative disbursements under the programme to N1.07 billion across 4.6 million smallholder farmers cultivating 21 commodities around the country.

“The bank also released N300 million to finance large-scale agricultural projects under the Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme (CACS), bringing the total disbursements under the scheme to N745.31 billion for 680 projects in agro-production and-processing.

In addition, the bank released the sum of N48.30 billion under the N1.0 trillion Real Sector Facility to seven (7) new real sector projects in agriculture, manufacturing, and services. Cumulative disbursements under the Real Sector Facility currently stood at N2.15 trillion disbursed to 437 projects across the

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country, comprising 240 in manufacturing, 91 in agriculture, 93 in services and 13 mining sector projects.

Furthermore, under the 100 for 100 Policy on Production and Productivity (PPP), the bank has disbursed the sum of N20.78 billion to nine (9) projects in healthcare, manufacturing, and services. This brings

the cumulative disbursements under the facility to N114.17 billion to 71 projects across healthcare, manufacturing, services and agriculture”, He said.

He also revealed that In the MSME sector, the bank supported entrepreneurship development with the disbursement of the sums of N1.33 billion and N10.00 million under the Agribusiness/Small and Medium Enterprise Investment Scheme (AgSMEIS) and Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise Development Fund (MSMEDF), respectively, to support entrepreneurship development in the country, bringing the total disbursement under the interventions to N150.22 billion and N96.08 billion, respectively.

According to him, under the Export Facilitation Initiative (EFI), the bank funded export-oriented projects with the sum of N5.34 billion, bringing the cumulative disbursement under the intervention to N44.58 billion.

The Committee observed the continued growth in money supply with broad money (M3) growth exceeding the 2022 provisional benchmark of 15.21 per cent at 16.52 per cent (year-to-date) in December 2022, compared with 13.92 per cent in November 2022.

“This was largely driven by increased claims on other sectors (other financial corporations, state and local governments, public non-financial corporations, and the private sector”, Emefiele stated.