The Central Bank of Nigeria has advised commercial banks and other financial institutions to diversify their portfolios and provide more funding for the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in order to enhance economic growth.
The Governor, CBN, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, who spoke in Lagos on Tuesday at the opening of a three-day training organised by the Financial Institutions Training Centre, stressed that access to finance was essential for private sector growth and development.
The theme of the training was: ‘Movable asset lending for financial institutions in Nigeria’
Emefiele said the CBN collaborated with the World Bank/International Finance Corporation Group to establish the National Collateral Registry, as part of the regulator’s efforts to address the financing gap
The registry, he said, would improve access to finance for the MSMEs while maintaining a strong prudent lending policy and promote sound financial system.
In her remarks, the Managing Director, FITC, Lucy Newman, said the IFC and the CBN had continued to support the FITC in its plans to build competencies in the financial sector.
According to her, the IFC has in the past five years contributed immensely to the competencies of bank directors, FITC staff members and associates in terms of corporate governance, board leadership, as well as the emerging collaboration on environmental and social risk management.
Newman said, “The movable asset financing course is targeted at heads of credit and risk management; loan portfolio managers/officers, heads of the SME lending, heads of collection/enforcement, loan recovery manager/officers, heads of legal departments, as well as those transiting to such roles in commercial banks, Development Finance Institutions, Primary Mortgage Institutions and Infrastructure Banks.”
The MSMEs, according to her, contribute over 60 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product in emerging economies.
She added, “They also play significant roles in job creation and income generation for low income people, thereby fostering economic growth, social stability and contributing to the development of a dynamic private sector. It is pertinent to note that a major constraint to lending to the MSMEs in Nigeria is the sub-optimal stance on collateral category that are acceptable to banks, in terms of immovable property.”
The Country Manager, IFC, Lagos, Eme Essien-Lore, said access to finance by the MSMEs had remained a challenging feature of economic development in Nigeria.
She said, “The absence of a proper financial system and financial products handicaps economic development. It is well known that self-financing by enterprises, particularly the SMEs and individuals limits their capacity to invest, grow, and smooth consumption through time.”
