With millions of Nigerian applying for the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Target Credit Facility (TCF, Development Finance Advocates (DFA) has released a report showing that a total of N400bn has so far been disbursed by the apex bank to support households and businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Executive Director of Communications, Development Finance Advocates, Mr. Olusola Oyekanmi said: “reports reaching us shows that CBN has so far expended N400bn which is quite a lot of money and a lot more is still expected to be pumped into the scheme.”
In a similar vein, CBN’s Director of Corporate Communications, Osita Nwanisiobi, disclosed that more than 600,000 applicants have benefitted from the various COVID-19 induced interventions as at date.
He disclosed this during in a one-day interactive enlightenment session with organised labour and civil society groups on the five-year policy thrust of the CBN.
The TCF was unveiled last year by the CBN in response to the harrowing effect of the Coronavirus pandemic. The credit facility is aimed at providing financial relief to households and small businesses as they cope with the economic onslaught of the pandemic.
The CBN kicked off the support funding with N50bn, after which it moved to N100bn, N300bn and today N400bn.
To ensure accessibility for all, the CBN went on further to waive guarantor requirements for the loan application. Households will only need to provide verifiable evidence of livelihood affected by Covid-19 pandemic, with a BVN and a bank account; while businesses must be registered with the CAC, have a BVN, with verifiable evidence of business activities adversely affected by the pandemic.
