The Central Bank Governor Godwin Emefiele has expressed his displeasure over the lack of cooperation of lending institutions in order to make available cheap loans for small scale business operators.
According to him, the Central Bank has set aside N200bn for SMEs under the Commercial Agricultural Credit Loans Scheme.
He further said that under the central bank and the bankers’ committee, they currently have close to N60bn available to fund agriculture and small businesses but worries that monies are lying there and not being disbursed.
Emefiele said that the outrageous interest rates microfinance banks in the country were charging would not support the Federal Government’s loans aimed at stimulating local production and boosting non-oil export.