The Central Bank of Nigeria on Tuesday suspended new applications for development financing like the Anchor Borrowers Program (ABP) and Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) among others.
The strategic move to discontinue the unorthodox monetary policy regime adopted by the former Governor, Godwin Emefiele was revealed in a mail titled ‘Suspension of New Applications Under CBN Development Finance Intervention Programs’ sent by Access Bank Plc and other banks to their customers.
It reads,
“This is to notify you that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has discontinued the processing of new loan applications under its existing development finance intervention funds program such as Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL), Accelerated Agricultural Development Scheme (AADS), Anchor Borrowers Program (ABP), Agri-Business/SM E Investment Scheme (AGSMEIS) Real Sector Support Fund (RSSF) etc.
“However, all existing CBN develop finance intervention funds with approved interest rates remain unchanged and are to be fully repaid in line with the terms and conditions.”
The governor of the apex bank, Olayemi Cardoso had vowed to discontinue Emefiele’s intervention programmes and focus on the mandate of the CBN which is price stability.
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Cardoso in his keynote address at the 58th Annual Chartered Institute of Bankers Dinner last year had assured investors that the Nigerian economy will experience stability in the short to medium term through policy implementation.
Cardoso said,
“The primary mandate of the CBN is to ensure price stability in addition to other objectives such as issue legal tender currencies and safeguarding our external reserves, promoting a sound financial system and providing financial advice to the government.
“In line with our strategy to refocus on our core mandate, the CBN will discontinue direct quasi-fiscal interventionist activities and instead utilise orthodox monetary policy tools for implementing monetary policy.”