CBN disburses $2.83bn to boost manufacturing, agriculture, others

Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) disbursed the sum of $2.83 billion for utilisation to critical sectors of the economy between December 2016 and January 2017.

In a statement by Isaac Okorafor, acting director, corporate communications department, CBN, the manufacturing, raw materials and agriculture among others topped these disbursements targeted at employment generating and wealth creating sectors of the economy.

Meanwhile, the sum of $609 million and $228 million were released for raw materials in the months of December and January, respectively, while manufacturing also attracted the sum $53 million and $71 million, respectively, during the same period.

In the foreign exchange, utilisation figure indicates that the sums of $1.839 billion and $0.989 billion, respectively, were extended to critical sectors like manufacturing, agriculture, petroleum products and airlines, among others in December 2016 and January 2017.

Commenting further on the development, Okorafor stressed the determination of the bank to continue to ease the foreign exchange pressure on critical sectors.

The regulator of the financial institutions in Africa’s biggest oil producer had in the month of November 2016, supported critical sectors with $1.1 billion equivalent of foreign exchange for agricultural machinery, industrial raw materials, education and personal travel allowances to source industrial raw materials and spare-parts through the interbank foreign market.