The Bank of Industry (BOI) has declared N62 billion as profit before tax (PBT) in 2021 fiscal year despite the challenging operating environment caused by the Coronavirus pandemic.
This was disclosed by Aliyu Dikko, the chairman of the bank’s Board of Directors, at the 62nd Annual General Meeting in Abuja on Thursday.
According to him, the Group’s PBT rose significantly by 75.2 percent from N35.54 billion in 2020 to N62.28 billion in 2021.
He said, “The 2021 Group’s financial statements of the Bank of Industry remain robust and remarkable despite the rather tough and uncertain operating environment.
“BOI has continued to work with key stakeholders towards effectively meeting its strategic goals and mandate.
“In line with its strategic objectives to continually support its customers through the post Covid-19 recovery phase, the bank extended the two per cent reduction of interest rate on all its funded projects and extensions on moratorium and tenor by another one year until March 31, 2022.”
Dikko further noted that the Group’s total equity remained healthy as it increased by 14.4 percent to N384.85bn in 2021 from N336.48bn in 2020.
Speaking on the outlook for the 2022 financial period, Dikko said that the Bank will begin the implementation of its 2022-2024 Medium Term corporate strategy titled, ‘Sustaining Purposeful Growth’.
He added, “This strategy was developed in line with the priorities set by the Federal Government’s National Development Plan (2021-2025) which aims to promote rapid multi-sectoral growth and development of the Nigerian economy.”
Commenting on the Bank’s performance, the Managing Director BOI, Olukayode Pitan, noted that the profit recorded by the Bank is the highest in its over 62 years history.
He said, “The profit report was over N62bn, that is the best report the bank has witnessed since it was set up over 62 years ago. The balance sheet was roughly about N1.7trn.
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“This year already, we have raised 750m Euro, from the first Eurobond that we did in February of this year. Already we are getting set to get additional funds because the international financial market is very volatile now, and we also have elections coming up, so we need to do a lot of work this year.”
He said the plan of the Bank is to provide more funding for its customers to catalyze Nigeria’s industrialization.
“We plan to advance more money to our customers this year, the things happening in Russia and Ukraine affects everyone. Nigeria imports a lot of fertilizer from Ukraine, which may affect prices. A lot of iron and steel, a lot of construction from Ukraine will be affected.
“The wheat that we use for our bakeries also comes from there, flour for making bread is already affected. And likely the prices are going further up.
“If Ukraine is unable to export the harvest for this year, so Nigeria is supposed to be prepared because we have a large population and it’s affecting the cost of food, and that’s higher inflation.
“So, all of these are part of our plans, with the government, we work with CBN, work with finance to see how we can make life better for our people. So, we expect to see more disbursement to MSMEs this year,” he said.
