CBN disburses N75.9 billion loan to farmers under ABP

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) disbursed N75.9 billion loan to farmers between last November and December, under the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP).

The fund was to support the cultivation of over 383,000 hectares of maize, rice and wheat during the year dry season, bringing the cumulative disbursements under the Programme to N927.94 billion to over 4.5 million smallholder farmers cultivating 21 commodities across the country.

In a CBN report, the apex bank said excess output aggregated from the financed farmers will be released to the Nigeria Commodity Exchange (NCX) to help moderate the prices of food in the market.

The bank also released N1.76 billion to finance two large-scale agricultural projects under the Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme (CACS).

In addition, the apex bank disbursed N151.23 billion under the Real Sector Facility to 15 more projects in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, and services. The funds were utilised for greenfield and brownfield (expansion) projects under the COVID-19 Intervention for the Manufacturing Sector (CIMS) and the Real Sector Support Facility from Differentiated Cash Reserve Requirement (RSSF-DCRR).

According to the report, cumulative disbursements under the Real Sector Facility stood at N1.40 trillion disbursed to 331 projects across the country. As part of its effort to support the resilience of the healthcare sector, the bank also disbursed N498.00 million to two healthcare projects under the Healthcare Sector Intervention Facility (HSIF), bringing the cumulative disbursements to N108.85 billion for 118 projects, comprising 31 pharmaceuticals, 82 hospital and four other services.

To support households and businesses affected by COVID-19, the bank disbursed N20.29 billion to 40,521 beneficiaries, comprising 35,340 households and 5,181 small businesses under the Targeted Credit Facility (TCF) within the period.

According to the apex bank, the cumulative disbursements under the TCF stood at N369.78 billion to 777,666 beneficiaries, comprising 648,052 households and 129,614 small businesses. To further promote entrepreneurship development among youths, the bank disbursed N293 million to 59 beneficiaries under the recently introduced Tertiary Institutions Entrepreneurship Scheme (TIES)