The Nigerian government has secured one billion dollar for a Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs)Wholesale Bank.
The bank will be launched within the next two weeks.
Announcing the plan at a meeting with business owners in Abuja on Wednesday, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Olusegun Aganga, said the initiative would serve as a catalyst to the growth of Small and Medium Enterprises sector.
According to Dr. Aganga, the government had supported the sector with over 115 billion Naira to boost job creation and poverty reduction in the past four years.
“Over the last four years of this administration, the Bank of Industry disbursed about 115 billion Naira to MSMEs across the 36 states of the federation, representing 544 per cent increase over a four year period before then. It is over what we did between 2007 and 2010.
“On funding, we as a government, has secured about one billion dollars for a new MSME wholesale Bank that the President will be launching within the next two weeks,” Dr Aganga said.
MSMEs in Nigeria have clamoured for access to funding in order to expound their businesses and further contribute to the growth of the economy that is the biggest in Africa.
With the initiative the challenges of funding is expected to be laid to rest.