The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN has said poor access to credit is the biggest problem facing Small and Medium Enterprises in the country.
The Governor of CBN, Mr Godwin Emefiele, stated this during an inspection of NIRSAL Microfinance Bank’s facilities in Gwagwalada, Abuja on Wednesday.
“The biggest problem that small businesses always have is poor access to credit and I am happy that with the establishment of this microfinance bank which would be in at least one local government and we are talking about the 774 locations across the country, we would be able to have a financial institution that will help deepen financial inclusion,” he said.
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The governor said the deepening of financial inclusion would make it easy for people to access credit.
“We will use this to improve access to credit. Interest rate for this will be at five per cent and the loan will be for a tenor of seven years with two years moratorium,” Emefiele added.
He said the loans would be given without the conventional collateral requirements.
Emefiele said, “We know that those who are weak in terms of those who are unable to access credit, the big issue for them is their inability to provide collateral.
“We have already set a target for ourselves that by 2020, the rate of financial inclusion must increase to 80 per cent from about 48 per cent a year and a half ago. So, this is just part of our initiative to deepen financial inclusion in Nigeria.”
Story by Innocent Eneta
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