CBN supports 28 firms with N23.20bn facility

Twenty-eight firms have secured N23.2 billion facility from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for the 100 for 100 Policy for Production and Productivity (PPP).
Cheques were presented to the 28 beneficiaries’ firms on Monday in Abuja through seven participating financial institutions.

The beneficiaries were made up from sectors – 14 from manufacturing sector, 12 from agricultural sector, and two healthcare firms.
Speaking at the presentation, CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, said funding projects under PPP were expected to create over 20,000 direct and indirect jobs across several sectors of the economy, as well as generate close to $125.80 million in foreign exchange earnings.
Emefiele said five of the selected projects are greenfield projects seeking to exploit the huge opportunities in key sectors of the economy.
“For this first cycle of the initiative ending today, 243 applications valued at N321.06 billion, spread over key sectors such as agriculture, energy, healthcare, manufacturing, and services sectors were submitted on the portal.

“After much engagement, 79 applications were received from banks, valued at N121.87 billion, for projects in six sectors, namely agriculture, energy, healthcare, manufacturing, mining, and services sectors.

“The requests were carefully screened and scrutinized against a set-out selection
criteria, which is categorised into: production efficiency and scalability; local content capacity; job creation and human capital development; operating sector relevance; and potential contribution to economic growth.”
The CBN Governor appealed to prospective investors to take advantage of the opportunities in the real sector under the PPP and approach their banks to submit their applications for participation under the initiative.
“For those seeking to invest in new greenfield or existing brownfield projects, the bank will continue to provide all the needed support, both in Naira and dollars specifically for the importation of plants and equipment to actualize these investments. It is pertinent to point out that the foreign exchange support will be solely for the importation of spares, plants and equipment needed to increase production capacities of these companies.

“Let me emphasize that our mission through this initiative is to ensure that priority is accorded to companies who display verifiable progress in our import’s substitution and job creation drive.

“Consequently, we would soon unveil a new FX bidding regime that is market- driven and supports companies that accord utmost priority for our local production and job creation drive,” he said.

TheStar