CBN, banks set up committee to oversee challenges of exporters, creative industry

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Bankers Committee on Sunday took a decision to set up a committee to take a deep look into some of the issues and challenges faced by exporters as well as the creative industry.

The committee headed by a bank CEO is expected to report back in February 2019 which will be the first bankers committee meeting next year.

The essence of this strategy according to Godwin Emefiele, governor, CBN, is to ensure easy access to credit through the banks or through the CBN’s intervention funds, by these critical sectors of the economy.

“The major focus remains that there are certain critical sectors of the economy that require banking system support and we as banking industry experts need to come together to put in place strategies that will help create access or make it easy for these people to access credit from the banks”, Emefiele said while addressing the journalists at the end of the Bankers Committee retreat in Lagos.

In 2017, the CBN and the Bankers Committee made available N500 billion to support export activities so as to boost export business and generate export earnings into the country.

“We took a review of it and I must confess that that aspect has not widely permeated the system and we wanted to hear from some of the export companies what their challenges were and that was the reason we set up a committee that will look into these issues”.

“At this time we are determined they will get the support they need. We will make it easy for them to access the credit but at the same time must put a policy that would ring-fence export earnings in a way that if the funds come in it will be used in a way that will be beneficial to the economy”, Emefiele added.

“One aspect that we had not looked at in the past which we thought we should look at today is the area of invisibles. There so many young Nigerians today who are in the creative industry and it is important that we do not write these people off. Some of these people are young talented graduates but who for one reason or the other have not been opportune to find job, either they are in the music industry, film industry or even fashion design. These people have decided that they will use their God-given talent to become entrepreneurs”.

Emefiele’s response to clarification of the establishment of CBN’s own national microfinance bank, show that the CBN targets single digit or 15 percent interest rate.

However, the CBN governor was worried that the microfinance banks operating in the country are not lending at single digit interest rate.

“Some of them are lending money on flat basis. You borrow N50,000 from them for 90 days and they expect you to pay them N3,000 as interest in another 90 days that is outrageous and too exorbitant. We feel that if we have these funds available in the CBN, through our own national microfinance, we can make access to fund by these people easy, even if it is not single digit of nine percent per annum, at 15 percent is substantially lower than those who are borrowing money on flat arrangement basis”, Emefiele added.

HOPE MOSES-ASHIKE