Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Godwin Emefiele, has revealed that the bank has disbursed the sum of N12.65bn to the Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP) from January till present.
Emefiele said this on Tuesday in Abuja, at the 290th meeting of the apex bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) said the fund is part of its flagship agric intervention scheme.
Emefiele further disclosed that a total sum N1.09 trillion had been disbursed under the ABP since inception in 2015.
“Between January and February 2023, the bank disbursed N12.65 billion to three agricultural projects under the ABP.
“It brings the cumulative disbursement under the programme to N1.09 trillion to more than 4.6 million smallholder farmers cultivating or rearing 21 agricultural commodities on an approved 6.02 million hectares of farmland,” Mr Emefiele said.
He said that the CBN had also disbursed huge sums as intervention to various other sectors of the economy.
“The CBN also released the sum of N23.70 billion under the N1.0 trillion Real Sector Facility to eight new real sector projects in agriculture, manufacturing, and services.
“Cumulative disbursements under the Real Sector Facility currently stands at N2.43 trillion disbursed to 462 projects across the country, comprising 257 manufacturing, 95 agriculture, 97 services and 13 mining sector projects,” he said.
He said that the apex bank also released N3.01 billion under the Nigerian Electricity Market Stabilisation Facility (NEMSF-2) for capital and operational expenditure of electricity distribution companies, Discos.
He said that the facility was aimed at improving liquidity status of the Discos, and aiding their recovery of legacy debt.
“This brings the cumulative disbursement under the facility to N254.39 billion,” he said.