The current fall in crude oil prices in the international market has been identified as an indispensable opportunity to revamp the ailing Nigerian economy.
This revelation was made by the Director, Development Finance Director, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Dr. Mudashiru Olaitan in a seminal paper “Real Sector Financing For Inclusive Growth and Economic Development” presented by a Deputy Director, Mr, Umar Abubarka Musa, at the 22nd Finance Correspondents and Business Editors Conference, which took place in Abakaliki from September 26 to 29, 2016.
He traced the CBN real sector intervention to the falling crude oil prices at the international markets as a means of strengthening the capacity of the financial sector to deliver credit to the real sector. According to him, given our vulnerability to such external shocks precipitated by the slump in commodity market, he reiterated the need to leverage on the present challenges to diversify from oil into agriculture, manufacturing, services and other non-oil sectors.
Mr, Olaitan outlined the various development finance inventions, which are intended to achieve the following; access to finance, economic diversification, job creation and inclusive growth. These include the N200 billion Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme(CACS), Nigerian Incentive Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL), Anchor Borrowers’ programme (ABP). Others are the N300 billion Real Sector Support Fund (RSSF), N500 billion Export Stimulation Facility (ESF), power and airline Intervention Fund (PAIF), Nigeria Electricity Market Stabilization Fund (NEMSF), etc.
The CBN Director, made a summary of the impact of various interventions in terms of amount of money disbursed, number of projects executed, direct job created