The Central Bank of Nigeria has released the guideline for the operation of the 100bn credit support for the health sector being part of the policy measures to cushion the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The COVID-19 pandemic has dent a big blow on the world economy hitting virtually sector and throwing every country into panic. Other nations of the world affected by this deadly virus pandemic have responded by rolling out some fiscal and monetary measures to try to mitigate the looming economic crises.
In the same light, the Central Bank of Nigeria had rolled out some policy measure of which the N100Billion credit support for the health sector is a part of.
The guidelines for the implementation of the scheme was released Wednesday and posted on the Apex Bank website.
According to CBN, the N100Billion support is meant to strengthen the health sector’s capacity to meet to potential increase in demand for health products and services. Specifically, the scheme is to provide credit to indigenous pharmaceutical companies and other health care value chain players intending to build or expand capacity.
The scheme which will be funded from the Real Sector Support Facility – Differentiated Cash Reserve Requirement (RSSF-DCRR) is to be operated through the Deposit Money Banks (DBMs) and Development Finance Institutions (DFIs)
Eligible participants under the scheme include healthcare products (pharmaceutical drugs and health care equipments) manufacturers, healthcare service providers/medical facilities (hospitals, diagnostic centers and others) and pharmaceutical/medical products distributions and logistics services. Also eligible other human healthcare service providers as may be determined by CBN.
With Interest Rate of not more than 5.0% till February 2021 and 9.0% from 1st March 2021, participants can obtain working capital within a tenor of 1 to 3 years or term loan within a maximum of 10 years.
The loan shall not be without collateral but shall be as may be required under the RSSF-DCRR.
According to the Apex Bank, the intervention scheme is expected to terminate in December 2030.
