Here’s How To Access CBN’s N50 billion Covid-19 Fund For Small Businesses
- Opeyemi
- June 9, 2020
- Money
- CBN intervention fund for covid, covid loan nigeria, N50 billion Covid-19 Fund, NIRSAL Microfinance Bank, Targeted Credit Facility CBN SMEs
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The CBN recently announced a N50 billion Targeted Credit Facility (TCF) as a stimulus package to support households, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
It also released a set of criteria interested parties need to meet to access the loans. It stated that, “Eligible households or MSMEs shall submit applications directly to NIRSAL Microfinance Bank (NMFB); and the application must, among others, contain BVN number, business registration (where applicable) and business plan with clear evidence of the opportunity or adverse impact as a result of COVID-19 pandemic.
“NMFB shall appraise and conduct due diligence applications; upon satisfactory appraisal of application, NMFB shall forward the applications to the CBN for final approval; and CBN reviews applications and gives final approval for disbursement to NMFB.”
The bank also stated that eligible participants were existing enterprises with verifiable evidence of business activities adversely affected as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic; and enterprises with bankable plans to take advantage of opportunities arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Activities covered under the guidelines include:
- Agricultural value chain activities
- Hospitality (accommodation and food services)
- Health (pharmaceuticals and medical supplies)
- Airline service providers
- Manufacturing/value addition
- Trading, and any other income-generating activities as may be prescribed by the CBN.
The CBN also stated that the loan amount would be determined by the following:
- Activity and cashflow
- Industry/segment size of the beneficiary
- Maximum of N25m for SMEs
- Households could access a maximum of N3m.
The loans will also be disbursed based on the following details:
- Working capital would be a maximum of 25% of the average of the previous three years’ annual turnover
- Where the enterprise is not up to three years in operation, 25% of the previous year’s turnover would suffice
- Interest rate would be five per cent per annum (all inclusive) up to 28th February 2021 and thereafter, the interest on the facility would revert to nine per cent (all inclusive) as from 1st March 2021.
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Incentive-based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) Microfinance bank, on behalf of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has started the disbursement of the N50 billion Targeted Credit Facility (TCF) to the beneficiaries.
This was made known by the Managing Director of NIRSAL Microfinance Bank, Mr Abubakar Kure, at a media briefing. 3,256 MSMEs are among the first batch of the beneficiaries of the disbursement.
The NIRSAL Microfinance boss said that it received 80,000 applications for the facility, out of which 40,000 of them were households.
You can apply here for the funds.
