Total Loan Repayment From Anchor Borrowers Programme Stood at 52 Percent – CBN

By Dare Akogun
The Central Bank of Nigeria has said that the total loan repayments under the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) stood at 52 percent in February.
The CBN was speaking in reaction to a report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which claimed that only 24 percent of loans disbursed under the ABP had been repaid.
In its recent report titled ‘Nigeria selected issues’, the fund said agricultural credit in Nigeria has not significantly boosted production even though there is the challenge of targeting the right recipients for the credit.
However, in a statement released on Monday, March 6, 2023, signed by the acting director of, corporate communications department at the CBN, AbdulMumin Isa, the apex bank said it has released N1.079 trillion as of 28 February 2023 of which N960 billion was due for repayment.
Mr. Isa said the programme has supported about 4.57 million smallholder farmers across the country who cultivated over 6.02 million hectares of 21 commodities like rice, wheat, cowpea, millet, maize, cotton, fish, soya bean, poultry, cassava, groundnut, ginger, sorghum, oil palm, cocoa, sesame, tomato, castor seed, yellow pepper, onions, and cattle/dairy.
He also said that the repayments under the ABP are made through cash or produce by the beneficiaries.
The CBN spokesperson explained that the outstanding due balance on loans was still under moratorium due to the COVID-19 forbearance granted to beneficiaries of the bank’s interventions in March 2020 and extended to February 2022.
“It is pertinent to note that the tenor of loans under the ABP is based on the commodity gestation period. For instance, loans granted to farmers cultivating some perennial crops could have up to seven-year tenor,” he said.
The anchor’s borrowers programme was launched in November 2015 by President Muhammadu Buhari to boost agricultural production and reverse Nigeria’s negative balance of payments on food.