CBN recovers N3.7trn debt from beneficiaries of targeted credit facilities

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said it has recovered N3.7 trillion out of the N9.3 trillion it lent to different sectors of the economy under its development interventions programme.

This was disclosed by the Director of Development Finance Department, Dr Yusuf Yila on Wednesday in Abuja at the post-MPC briefing of the 287th meeting of the CBN Monetary Policy Committee and unveiling of facts behind the figures.

He pointed out that over N5 trillion worth of loans were not due yet because of subsisting moratorium, and stressed that the Bank would ensure that it recovers every outstanding loan and deploy the global standing instruction with the aid of bank verification numbers to recover all loans.

Dr Yila informed that the apex bank would slow down on further developmental finance interventions as a means of checking excess liquidity in the system.

He said, “Every single person who had taken loans, even for farming is going to pay. We have their Bank’s Verification Number (BVN). In fact, we started what we call the Global Standing Instruction (GSI), and will continue to pull their accounts in the banks that they lend to, or whichever way, the bank that they have an account. Anytime we see any fund from a loan defaulter, we will recover the money from the account.

“We have also started recovering those loans from state governments. We have been doing a long workout programme on them. Any state government that has benefitted from our fund and is already in default, over a six-month period, we’re going to be debiting them at N50 million every month, and we have started that programme.

“So every single loan, obtained from our intervention programme must be paid back. There’s absolutely no mercy. We have kick-started, and are in recovery mode.

“Talking about the portfolio, most of it is quite securitized. Where we are at risk, really is around the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).
One of our best-performing interventions is the commercial agriculture scheme”.

In his contribution, the CBN Director of Monetary Policy, Dr Hassan Mahmud explained that radical the raise in interest rate announced on Tuesday as well as the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) was to check the inflationary pressure which was a source of concern to the Bank.

He said although this would increase the cost of funds and hinder growth, it had to prioritise taming inflation which was capable of rendering any growth valueless.

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