CBN Claims N49bn Out Of N50bn COVID-19 Loan Disbursed To Households, Small Businesses

Out of the N50 billion loan set aside for households and small businesses, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said over N49 billion has been disbursed already. This comes a month after NIRSAL Microfinance Bank said most of the funds haven't been disbursed due to the inability of loan applicants to provide guarantors.

In order to make the loan process easier for applicants to obtain the credit, the CBN waived the guarantor requirement, now, over 80,000 families and households have been able to obtain over N49 billion from the N50 billion, this is according to the Director for Corporate Communications for CBN, Isaac Okoroafor.

Note that the credit facility for households and small businesses is meant to sustain their livelihood and act as a catalyst for growth amidst the negative impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the economy, “At the CBN we have looked at it and we felt that everyone must work hard to ensure that the economy does not slip back into recession.

"We have done that with a couple of interventions, we have the targeted credit facility for households and small businesses which as we speak, out of the N50 billion earmarked for this, more than N49 billion has been disbursed to over 80,000 families and households.

’We also have the N100 billion healthcare facility which quite a number of operators in that area have benefitted and we are inviting others to come in. we believe that Nigerians have the power, have the energy, have the creativity to ensure that this economy doesn’t go into recession."

Nigeria Not Immune From Recession

According to Okoroafor, the CBN is trying to assist the households  and small businesses through the economic fallout of the pandemic as Nigeria's economy is not immune to the recession which has been predicted for most economies, “Of course there is consensus across the world, most economies if not all will go into recession this year and Nigeria is not totally immune from it.

"But we are working as a monetary authority, as a public institution to ensure that those Nigerians, families and small businesses whose businesses were negatively impacted by this pandemic, that we give them the opportunity to walk themselves out of that kind of recession and to be able to maintain even their businesses as they go on and their livelihoods.”

Okoroafor said small businesses that employ 2 or 3 people will continue to receive support in order for them to remain operational and cushion the impact of COVID-19 on their businesses.