Deposit Money Banks have pledged to boost lending to the nation’s economic sectors in 2014 as part of plans to ensure macro-economic stability in the year.
The banks took the position at the fifth Bankers Committee retreat held recently.
A communiqué issued after the retreat, which was obtained on Monday, stated that the programme was attended by the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Lamido Sanusi, who is the chairman of the committee; the deputy governors of the central bank; the managing director of the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation; chief executive officers of the various banks, discount houses and development finance institutions.
The communiqué quoted the Managing Director of Access Bank Plc, Mr. Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, as noting that for the country to achieve the $10bn yearly infrastructure investment, the banks needed to strategise on a deliberate approach that would boost lending.
It gave how the industry would be adequately imbued with capabilities to meet its set objectives and further emphasised the importance of increased funding of the economy next year.
It also quoted the CBN Governor, Mr. Lamido Sanusi, as saying that the Bankers’ Committee had made significant progress in transforming the financial system into an enabler and engine of real sector growth, through its advocacy and intervention.
He recalled that the collective decisions of the Bankers’ Committee as an agent of transformation had delivered tangible benefits through increase in lending to micro, small and medium enterprises; advocacy and finance to the power and aviation sectors; and increased lending to the agriculture sector.
According to Sanusi, the banks have made significant progress in contributing to economic development and growth.
Source: Punch
