The Bank of Industry has disclosed that it disbursed a total of N213.63 billion to 30,406 Nigerian enterprises in 2021.
This was disclosed by Mr Olukayode Pitan, Managing Director of BOI at the 62nd Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the bank on Thursday in Abuja.
Mr Pitan said that the bank was able to successfully scale up its developmental impacts in the year under review compared to previous years, in spite of COVID-19.
What the bank’s MD is saying
Pitan said that, at the peak of COVID-19 in 2020, the bank took steps to support customers with two per cent reduction in interest rates for a year alongside an extension of loan tenors and moratoriums.
- He said, “The operating environment improved in 2021 and the bank decided to extend these incentives by another year until March 31, 2022.
- “Additionally, all ongoing projects were reviewed to assess emerging risks and opportunities and also additional support was provided.
- “In the year under review, the bank disbursed a total of N213.63 billion to 30,406 Nigerian enterprises through both direct and indirect methods.
- “This represents a 47.3 per cent increase over disbursements in 2020.
- “The 2021 disbursements include N2.99billion to 22,120 farmers through our smallholder farmers on lending product and one billion Naira to 4,000 micro-retailers through our MSMEs distributor finance programme.
- “At BoI, we have since taken measures to ensure that our systems, processes and people are continuously equipped to meet the evolving business environment.
- “Today, we are a more agile and adaptive institution, able to provide the necessary developmental support for Nigeria’s real sector in an ever-changing economy.
- “Our commitment to building a resilient organisation that can respond to the needs of our customers and operating challenges is unwavering.
- “We strongly believe that we can achieve this with the continuous support of the stakeholders.”
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Nairametrics reported earlier that the Bank of Industry called for the increased collaboration of Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) to end some of the nation’s economic challenges.