The Bankers Committee yesterday announced a N200 billion credit facility to boost production and export of five cash crops. The cash crops are Coaca, Oil Palm, Shea Butter, Sesame Seed and Cashew. The Committee also said it would soon announce a credit facility to support the creative industry with the aim of creating 300,000 jobs in the industry.
Speaking Abdullahi said that the Committee noted the stability in the economy especially improved foreign investors confidence in the nation’s economy which reflected in the $6 billion foreign portfolio investment inflow in the first quarter through the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window, the Committee decided to focus on initiatives that will consolidate the pro growth stance of the CBN, via the recent reduction the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) to 13.5 percent from 14 percent. N200bn facility for cash crops Kennedy Uzoka of UBA said that this led to the decision to set up the fund to boost production and export of cash crops. He said the N200 billion will be extended as loans to companies producing any of the five cash crops, at single digit interest rate for up to ten years tenor. He said: “As you know we have always talked about Nigeria been a mono economy, oil only, and many seminars have happened with so many resolutions. But the committee believe we have not made much progress in this direction hence that was the theme of the retreat. “And in terms of the policies that drive exports, we believe that a lot of them have to be changed. And we know about the congestion at the port. So we looked at all these things and we broke them into immediate, medium and long term because some we cannot address within a short period. “Fortunately CBN has different kind of funds. We looked at the existing funding structure so that we don’t reinvent the wheel, and see which of these funds can address the current challenges. And we did find a lot. Also we looked at the viability of these products in terms if we do this how will it help exports, address employment issues, create the necessary economic activities and also create relief in terms of foreign exchange (forex). This is because if a commodity, we add value to it, it will create employment and that we save us forex, as against what we do today, that most of our products are exported in raw forms. And indeed there are some of these things that with just a little push, we can either get to the final stage of refining we can get just close to that.
Source: vanguardngr.com
