The Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) has fingered high-interest rates and low disbursement of credit facilities by financial institutions as the bane of non-oil export in the country.
The Chief Executive Officer of NEPC, Dr Ezra Yakusak, made this known while speaking with Export Desk Officers from 29 financial institutions during a capacity building for bankers on non-oil export commodities at the council headquarters in Abuja recently.
The event themed, ‘Enhancing non-oil export growth through effective export procedures, documentation and logistics’, was part of the council’s effort at strengthening collaboration in promoting export competitiveness to achieve the economic diversification agenda of the federal government.
“The lending institutions’ high-interest rates and low disbursement of credit facilities to finance non-oil export trade, adversely affect the nation’s non-oil exports” he disclosed.
According to him, most exporters lacked the financial muscle required to set up modern export-related industries and production of high-quality products.
As a result of this need, banks must provide financial support to increase the issuance and processing of NXP forms, which led to an export value of $4.8bn in 2022, he noted.
Earlier in his welcome address, the NEPC boss stressed the role of the non-oil export sector in the economic development of Nigeria, emphasizing that the sector presented excellent opportunities for more Nigerians to participate in the global market space to earn more forex.
