Interest Rate: ECCIMA urges CBN to intervene to save SMEs

President of ECCIMA, Rev. Ugochukwu Chime, made the appeal on Saturday while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) at the ongoing 2017 Enugu International Trade Fair.

Chime said that there was need for a policy to ensure cautious but continuous flow of soft loans that attracted low interest rate to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) since they were the major employers of labour in the economy.

He noted that SMEs had prospect for expansion through creation of jobs, wealth, reduction of poverty and checking rising wave of restiveness among youths in communities.

“May we commend the CBN for its recent score in breathing life into the Naira  through its intervention, to enhance the value.

“However, we are worried how sustainable this could be without buoying up the productive sector, which will give a lot of value to our economic stability.

“A situation whereby businesses could only access bank credit with the interest rate of 25 or 30 per cent, is quite worrisome and cannot in anyway help in increasing our production level, GDP and stabilize our economy.

“It is therefore with due respect and understanding of the multifarious challenges facing the CBN in managing the myriads and complexities of our economy, that we counsel that the bank finds a way to intervene, to save indigenous businesses and the industrial sector,” he said.

The Enugu International Trade Fair, which is being supported by the Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment, is organised to showcase Nigeria’s non-oil products.

The exhibition is also providing opportunity for local and foreign businesses, to explore and access commercially viable markets in the South-East.

The theme of the 28th edition of the fair, which will end on Monday, is: “Promoting Nigeria’s Industrial Sector and SMEs for Inclusive and Robust Economy”. (NAN)