COVID-19 Intervention Fund: CBN Disburses N107.5bn to Beneficiaries

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has disbursed the total sum of N107.5 billion to beneficiaries from the N1.15 trillion Covid-19 Pandemic Intervention Fund so far, according to data provided by the bank from the Monetary Policy Meeting for May 2020.

The Bank announced that under the N100 billion Healthcare Sector fund, N10.15 billion has been disbursed and approved for establishments of advanced diagnostics and Health Centres and expansion of Pharmaceutical plants for essentials drugs and intravenous fluids.

The Bank has also disbursed N93.2 billion under the Real Sector Support Fund to boost local manufacturing, which consists of 44 Greenfield and Brownfield projects.

The CBN approved N10.9 billion to 14,331 beneficiaries under the N50 billion Targeted Credit Facility for Households and SMEs, out of which N4.1 billion has been disbursed to 5,868 successful beneficiaries.

The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele said the bank will also encourage Banks to offer and disburse the intervention fund to the sectors that are priority to the economic to aggregate demand and create jobs.

READ ALSO: CBN Introduces Healthcare Research, Development Grant

The MPC meeting policy also expects a sharp decline in output growth in Q2 2020 and maybe the third quarter and expects the economy would reverse positive by fourth quarter if current stimulus initiatives are properly implemented.

However, naira at the Investors & Exports (IEFX) window, lost 0.21per cent, 0.43 per cent and 0.53 per cent against the dollar, pounds and euro to close at N387.33, N494.55 and N440.53 respectively.

At the parallel market, while the Naira remained flat against the pound closing at N545, it lost 1.48per cent against the Euro to close at N480. Against the dollar, it gained 0.44per cent to close at N448.

“Going forward, we expect the FX market to be dictated by heightened dollar demand and CBN FX policies,” analysts at InvestmentOne research explained.

The Money market rates were stable today as Open buy back and Overnight rates remained at 14.50 per cent and 15.42per cent respectively.

The bond market was negative on Tuesday as yields rose across most maturities.

While the yield on the 10yr benchmark bond inched up by 16basis points to close at 10.98 per cent, the yields on the 5yr and 7yr benchmark bonds closed flat at 8.69 per cent and 10.10 per cent respectively.