The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said that about ₦300 billion has been disbursed to 76 manufacturing companies from the ₦1 trillion facilities set up in April last year, in a bid to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the sector.
CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, disclosed this on Friday, during the contract signing for localisation of manufacturing of Oral B products by P&G in Nigeria.
He explained that the facility set aside, is a strategic move by the monetary and fiscal authorities towards driving recovery of the Nigerian economy, following the downturn in the 1st half of 2020, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“At the Central Bank of Nigeria, we set up a N1 trillion facilities in April 2020 for the growth and expansion of manufacturing firms in Nigeria,” he said.
“So far close to N300bn has been disbursed to 76 manufacturing firms, which would boost local manufacturing across critical sectors over the next few years.
“Our efforts have aided the recovery of the manufacturing sector as reflected in the Purchasing Managers Index which shows that the index on manufacturing activities rose from a low of 42.4 points in May 2020 to 48.7 points in February 2021.”
Emefiele said that the 0.11 percent GDP growth in Q4 2020 is fragile and driving further growth of the economy would require continued investment support that will enable the growth of the manufacturing sector in Nigeria.
He maintained that given the comparative and competitive advantage Nigeria has, it will be smart for multinationals to invest in domesticating their manufactured productions lines in the country.
“Not only do they have access to our large market, Nigeria can serve as a base for them to export goods to other markets in Africa.
“Our efforts at putting in policy measures to encourage improved production of made in Nigeria goods, is driven out of the need to create jobs and wealth for our growing population.
“The impact of a manufacturing plant also goes beyond its immediate environment, as it also enables the growth of SMEs that work to meet the needs of the manufacturing plants and the staff,” he stated.
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