Repay Your Loans Now Or Risk Visit By EFCC – CBN Warns Debtors

The Central Bank of Nigeria has warned all its debtors to immediately begin repayment of their loans, else risk visitation by officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for forceful recovery.

Naija News reports that the apex bank issued the threat in Abuja on Wednesday at a post-287th Monetary Policy Committee press conference.

CBN revealed in its presentation that it lent out the sum of N9.3tn to businesses out of which manufacturers lead the pack of beneficiaries gulping 31 per cent.

Out of the total sum sent out, the apex bank said it was able to recover the sum of N3.7tn while N5tn was not yet due.

Giving the updates, Director of Development Finance, CBN, Dr Yusuf Yila, said it was the first time manufacturers were getting a long-term finance scheme with a reasonable moratorium.

According to him, the intervention funds had been slowed down in the bank’s efforts to rein in inflation. Giving a further breakdown of the fund disbursement, Yila said N1tn was disbursed under the Anchor Borrowers Programme while N400bn had been recovered.

He, however, warned that the bank is coming after debtors who will refuse to repay their loans when due. He said the bank had collaborated with the EFCC to set up a desk with a view to recovering the loans.

“Any person who borrowed from us will pay back. We have also started recovering those loans from state governments. We have been doing a long workout programme on them. Any state government that has benefitted from our fund and is already in default, over a six-month period, we’re going to be debiting them at N50 million every month, and we have started that programme,” he said.

Yila narrates that the loans were securitised and critical sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing, health, exports and SMEs had benefitted from the intervention. He admitted that the bank was at risk around the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.

CBN Raises Inflation Rate By 15.5 per Cent

Naija News reports that the apex bank on Tuesday, raised inflation to 15.5 per cent from 14 per cent in July, as inflation accelerated to 20.5 per cent in August.

The bank also raised the cash reserve ratio (CRR), which means the share of a bank’s total customer deposit kept with the central bank as cash, to 32.5 per cent, from 27.5 per cent.

Narrating how the apex bank arrived at the decision, Director of Monetary Policy, Dr Hassan Mahmud said the bank raised the monetary policy rate because it was necessary to rein in inflation and protect the capital market and other sectors of the economy which had global exposures.

The official said the concerns around inflation also propelled the apex bank to raise the cash reserve ratio.

He said it would not be in the interest of Nigeria for the interest rate to be far below the inflation rate. Mahmud also noted that although this would drive up the cost of funds, the bank must prioritise taming inflation which could render any growth valueless.