Home » FG to spend $1 billion on credit to small businesses

FG to spend $1 billion on credit to small businesses

by Biodun Kupoluyi

The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Otunba Adeniyi Adebayo, on Wednesday said the 1 billion syndicated term loan secured by the Bank of Industry (BoI) would be used to provide affordable credit to small businesses.

Adebayo, made this known in a statement through his media aide, Ifedayo Sayo, at the Quantum Mechanics Limited MSME Survival Fund Capacity Building Programme in Abuja.

Adebayo also said that there was an ongoing discussion with Dunn & Bradstreet to establish an SME risk rating agency – the SME Rating Agency of Nigeria (SMERAN) – to provide an empirical basis towards analysing the eligibility of SMEs to access credit.

FG to spend $1 billion on credit to small businesses | The Guardian Nigeria  News - Nigeria and World NewsBusiness — The Guardian Nigeria News – Nigeria  and World News

BoI had concluded a $1billion syndicated term loan in conjunction with international partners to further support Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (MSME) in the country.

The Minister revealing the efforts of the Federal Government at supporting the MSME in the country said: “I will like to reiterate that our Ministry fully supports MSMEs, as demonstrated by our MSME Survival Fund Initiative which was launched in the wake of the COVID-19 Pandemic by the Federal Government as part of the Nigerian Economic Sustainability Plan (NESP) aimed at protecting MSME businesses from the shocks the Pandemic.”

“The survival fund was estimated to save at least 1.3 million jobs across the country while strengthening the growth potential of beneficiary businesses, stressing that the successful implementation of the scheme so far, has contributed immensely to quickly pulling Nigeria out of the Covid-19-induced recession.

FG to spend $1 billion on credit to small businesses | The Guardian Nigeria  News - Nigeria and World NewsBusiness — The Guardian Nigeria News – Nigeria  and World News

The Minister said the National MSMEs Clinics also support the growth of small businesses across the country through the provision of critical infrastructure, with twenty-six of such clinics having impressive results.

He further disclosed that the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) has launched the Export Expansion Facility (EEF) under the NESP, to support the resilience of new and existing MSMEs to respond to the shocks of the COVID-19 Pandemic to retain and create more jobs, especially youth and women businesses through the Youth Export Development Programme (YEDP) and Promoting Women Inclusiveness in Non-Oil Export.

Related Posts

Are you sure want to unlock this post?
Unlock left : 0
Are you sure want to cancel subscription?
-
00:00
00:00
Update Required Flash plugin
-
00:00
00:00