The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says total disbursement so far to various players in the power sector under the Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trading Payment Assurance Facility (NBET-PAF) is about ₦1.28 trillion.
The cummulative disbursement from the facility followed the payment of about N11. 11 billion to various operators to facilitate uninterrupted generation, transmission and distribution of electricity across the country.
Briefing reporters in Abuja at the end of the Monetary Policy Committee meeting on Monday, the CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, said another cummulative disbursement of ₦232.93 billion was made under Phase 2 of the Nigeria Electricity Market Stabilisation Facility (NEMSF-2).
The CBN governor said this followed the release of about ₦12.64 billion electricity distribution companies (DISCos) operating in the country.
Both interventions were conceived
to bridge the funding gap and improve access to capital to facilitate the development
of required infrastructure in the Nigeria Electricity Supply Industry.
Regardless, the Association of Power Generation Companies (APGC) traced the deplorable situation in the power sector, which culminated in the low electricity generation capacity in recent times, to the non-payment of over N1. 6trillion debt by NBET for unutilized electricity generated.
In his briefing, the CBN governor identified rising energy prices, including high electricity tariffs, as the cause of the rise in core
inflation in the economy in recent times.
The CBN’s interventions in various sectors of the economy, he said, has helped in stimulating productivity in the economy, including manufacturing, industry,
agriculture, energy, infrastructure, healthcare, and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
Reviewing the performance of the various interventions by the CBN, Emefiele said between January and February 2022, about N29.67 billion was disbursed under the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) for the procurement of inputs and cultivation of maize, rice, and wheat in the country.
These disbursements, he said, brought the total under the programme to about ₦975.61
billion to 4.52 million smallholder farmers, cultivating 21 commodities nationwide.
Besides, he said the CBN was also undertaking the restructuring of the Nigeria Commodity Exchange (NCX) to effectively aggregate excess outputs from the Bank’s ABP-financed projects, towards moderating food prices.
In addition, he said, the Bank released N19.15 billion to finance five large-scale agricultural projects under the Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme (CACS), with a total disbursements under the Scheme
at ₦735.17 billion for 671 projects in agro-production and agro-processing.
Again, he said the CBN disbursed about ₦428.31 billion under the ₦1.0 trillion Real Sector Facility to 37 additional projects in the manufacturing, agriculture, and services sectors.
The funds, the CBN governor said, were sourced from the Real Sector Support Facility – Differentiated Cash Reserve Requirement (RSSF-DCRR), and utilized for both greenfield and brownfield (expansion) projects under the COVID-19 intervention for the Manufacturing Sector (CIMS).
Cumulative disbursements under the Facility,he said, currently stands at ₦1.75 trillion, disbursed to 368 projects across the country.
Under the 100-for-100 Policy on Production and Productivity (PPP), Emefiele said the CBN, has disbursed a total of ₦29.51 billion to 31 projects, comprising 16 in manufacturing, 13 in agriculture, and two in healthcare.
To support the resilience of the healthcare sector, he confirmed
the disbursement of ₦8.50 billion to six healthcare projects under
the Healthcare Sector Intervention Facility (HSIF), bringing the
cumulative disbursements to ₦116.72 billion for 124 projects,
comprising 31 pharmaceuticals, 56 hospitals, and 37 other services.
He said an additional tranche of N14.7 million was disbursed to five
researchers under the Healthcare Sector Research and Development (HSRD) Grant.
To support households and businesses affected by the COVID-19 Pandemic, Emefiele said the CBN disbursed N21.66 billion to 19,685 beneficiaries, comprising 12,044 households and 7,641 small businesses under the Targeted Credit Facility (TCF) within the period.
Cumulative disbursements under the Facility stands at N390.45 billion to 797,351 beneficiaries, comprising 660,096 households and 137,255 small businesses.
