The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has disclosed that the interest rates on all applicable apex bank’s intervention facilities have been reduced from 9% to 5% per annum for 1 year effective March 1, 2020. This was disclosed by the CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele during a press briefing on Monday.
The apex regulator at the event presented some policy measures to help reduce the effect of COVID-19 popularly referred to as coronavirus on businesses and families as the effect of virus poses a serious challenge on the global economy.
What it means: Interest rates on all applicable CBN intervention facilities are hereby reduced from 9% to 5% per annum for 1 year effective March 1, 2020.
Some of the other policy measures include the provision of N50 billion credit facility for households and small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs), the extension of the moratorium before payment of principal on its intervention funds by one year.
A moratorium is the delay period which is given before the payment of a loan.
The N50 billion targeted credit facility is going to be disbursed through NIRSAL Microfinance Bank for households and SMEs that have been particularly hard hit by the coronavirus disease including but not limited to airline service providers, healthcare merchants, hoteliers and so on. Source Naira metrics
