COVID-19: CBN Unveils N15trn Capital For Infrastructure Development

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has unveiled plans to float an infrastruc­ture development firm to be named InfraCo Plc with an equity take-off capital of N15 trillion to support the govern­ment’s transport infrastruc­tural development.

The Apex Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele who made this known in a 27-page policy response timeline document, said the establishment of InfraCo PLC with combined debt and equity take-off capital of N15 trillion was created to solely focus on infrastructure development as the country works towards mitigating the impact of COVID-19 on the economy.

Emefiele noted that the immediate-term policies would span an initial period of three months.

“The CBN has issued a support guideline on low-interest loans to hospitals and the pharmaceutical industry, to immediately deal with the public health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Under this immediate-term response, we have activated financial system stability by granting regulatory forbearance to banks to restructure terms of facilities in affected sectors; triggered banks and other financial institutions to roll-out business continuity processes to ensure that banking services are delivered in a safe social-distance regime for all customers and bankers; grant additional moratorium of 1 year on CBN intervention facilities, and reduce interest rates on intervention facilities from 9 to 5 percent,” the CBN governor said.

He added that the 12-month short-term policy priorities which covers the establishment of InfraCo PLC, a world-class infrastructure development vehicle and a host of other initiatives will ensure that the value-added sector like the manufacturing industry, will be strengthened to reposition the Nigerian economic space.