“INTERVENTION PROGRAMMES: We Will Work With EFCC To Recover Loans – CBN
By Munachimso Obienyi
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said it will work with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to set up a desk to recover some of its loans if the bank is at a risk of losing them.
This was even as the bank added that it is looking at focusing on critical sectors and slow down on some of its intervention programmes due to the inflation bedeviling the economy.
The apex bank revealed this to NwafoLive during the Post Monetary Policy Meeting (MPC)-Facts behind the CBN’s decisions which held via Zoom on Wednesday.
The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele whilst addressing journalists during the MPC meeting in Abuja on Tuesday, had said the apex bank had injected over N9 trillion into the economy in addition to offering a two year moratorium for ten year long term loan facilities.
He stated that while these interventions have significantly helped to engender growth, the committee, in light of the persisting pressures on inflation, encouraged the bank to maintain a close watch on the inflationary implications of these interventions.
Explaining this statement, the Director, Development Finance Department at CBN, Philip Yusuf, noted that the apex bank have started tapering down on some of its ongoing interventions and decide to focus on critical sectors of the economy.
“I can confirm to you that the CBN has decided to slow down on the intervention programmes that we are doing. We have decided that we will support the electricity sector because it is a critical sector. We have lent over N9.3 trillion but as at yesterday, N3.7 trillion has been recovered back. We have started our recovery loan programmes and we maintain that every single loan from our interventions must be paid back”, Yusuf said.
He revealed that the bank has started recovering some of its loans from state governments by deducting from the loan from their Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) accounts while adding that it is working with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to set up a desk to recover its loans if the bank is at a risk of losing them.
