The Nigerian Export-Import (NEXIM) Bank said it has within the last one year, approved loan applications worth N55bn for exporters in the country.
A statement issued by NEXIM’s management on Tuesday in Abuja explained that most of the benefiting exporters were the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).
Out of the approved sum, about N24bn had already been disbursed, the bank said.
The bank said, “Over the last one year, the bank has approved applications worth N55bn and disbursed about N24bn to exporters, many of whom are Small and Medium Enterprises.”
According to the statement, the development was in line with NEXIM’s ‘risk bearing support’ for the country’s non-oil exports.
It added, “NEXIM offers credit and risk bearing services to support non-oil exports from Nigeria thereby helping to diversify the economy from the dominance of crude oil exports.
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“The bank is also partnering with the Central Bank of Nigeria to manage the Export Development Fund and the Non-Oil Export Stimulation Facility, which have been established by the apex bank to mitigate the funding gap in the non-oil export sector.
“NEXIM is also collaborating with the African Export-Import Bank to implement the Nigerian African Trade and Investment Promotion Programme under which Afreximbank has earmarked $1bn to support export and investment activities of Nigerian entrepreneurs in other African countries.”
According to the statement, NEXIM has developed an Anchor Exporter Programme “which is akin to the Anchor Borrower Programme for the Agricultural Sector, but targeted at export-oriented projects”.
“NEXIM’s intervention is targeted at the entire value chain from production to export of products and is designed to incorporate aggregators, who will create market access for the Small and Medium Enterprises.
“Under this scheme, NEXIM has also signed an MOU with the Nigerian Incentive Risk-Based System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL), towards providing risk-mitigating instruments (guarantees/insurance) to facilitate access by the SMEs,” the statement added.
NEXIM, according to the statement, has introduced the State Export Development Programme, which is an intervention scheme specifically designed to catalyse and incentivise regional export investments and promote diversification and industrialisation based on the economic potential and resource endowments in every state of the federation.
Yetunde Adegoke
