Covid:19: CBN disburses N400bn TCF to Nigerians
Covid:19: CBN disburses N400bn TCF to Nigerians
Covid:19: CBN disburses N400bn TCF to Nigerians
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) revealed that it has disbursed N400 billion and received over 8 million applications from Nigerians for its Covid-19 Targeted Credit Facility (TCF) to help households and businesses that have been negatively impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.
The TCF is part of the Federal Government’s various intervention programmes aimed at stimulating the economy, preserving jobs and making sure that the country does not slip back into recession due to the pandemic.
This disclosure was made by the CBN’s Director of Corporate Communications , Mr Osita Nwanisiob, while fielding questions from journalists in Enugu during a one-day interactive enlightenment session with organised labour and civil society groups on the five-year policy thrust of the CBN.
Nwanisiobi, who said that CBN would not rest on its oars as the TCF had helped Nigeria exit recession and post the current Gross Domestic Product growth rate of 5.01%, adding that more than 600,000 applicants had benefited from the various Covid-19-induced interventions so far, faulting claims that residents of Enugu State did not receive the CBN credit facilities.
The CBN Communication Director said, “that would not be true. If you tell me that there are people who still need Covid-19 facility and who have not received it; honestly, I will agree with you.
“We started with about N50billion. We moved to N100billion, to N300billion; today; we are talking about N400billion. Now, the number of applications that we have is over eight million applications and we have done over 600,000.
“Now, will people complain that they haven’t received it? The answer is yes; you see the number and then you see what we are doing.
“The reality is that we are not resting on our oars. The governor is actually very passionate because he has also seen that what we have done in this regard also help Nigerians exit recession and to post the kind of GDP that we have posted and so he is poised to do more.”
Nwanisiobi noted that the major reason for the targeted stakeholders’ interactive session was to educate the labour leaders who were critical stakeholders in the CBN policies, interventions, programmes, and initiatives.
In April 2020, the CBN had introduced the Targeted Credit Facility (TCF) as a stimulus package to support households and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) that are affected by the COVID-19
The TCF was , essentially, designed to cushion the adverse effects of COVID-19 on households and MSMEs; support households and MSMEs whose economic activities have been significantly disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and stimulate credit to MSMEs to expand their productive capacity through equipment upgrade and research and development.
The intervention programme which was initially started with N50 billion had been increased to N400 billion by the apex bank due to the resounding success of the programme and its positive impact on output growth.
