By Francis Ogwo
A total of N106.96 billion to 27,956 has been disbursed to beneficiaries of Agri-Business Small and Medium Enterprise Investment Scheme (AGSMEIS) by the Central Bank of Nigeria ((CBN)
This was part of the information contained in a recent communique from the last MPC report of the CBN on Wednesday.
Earlier reports had revealed the expansion of AGSMEIS beneficiaries to 14,638. In lieu of this, the recent figures show a remarkable improvement of additional 13,318 beneficiaries.
The apex bank also stated that it has disbursed a total of N2.0 trillion as at January 2021.
Other key disbursements are included the disbursement of N192.64 billion to 426,016 households and small businesses under the COVID-19 Targeted Credit Facility (TCF), the disbursement of N72.96 billion to the Health Care Support Intervention Facility, directly impacting about 73 projects which comprise of 26 pharmaceutical projects and 47 hospitals and health care services projects in the country.
In a bid to support the provision of employment opportunities, the apex bank provided financial support of N3.12 billion to 320 beneficiaries under the Creative Industry Financing Initiatives and N268 million to 395 beneficiaries under the Nigerian Youth Investment Fund.
The apex bank also provided N18.58 billion for the procurement of 347,853 electricity reading meters to Discos, in a bid to support the National Mass Metering Programme.
Note that with the CBN AGSMEIS Loan, one can access up to N10M at 5% per year without collateral.
The Agri-Business/Small and Medium Enterprise Investment Scheme is a Federal Government initiative aimed at supporting efforts and policy measures for the promotion of agricultural businesses and small/medium enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria.
It has the long-run goal of achieving sustainable economic development and employment generation.
