MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Central Bank of Nigeria to Establish Microfinance Loan Fund for Women

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigeria’s central banking authority, announced at the recent sixth Annual Microfinance Conference and Entrepreneurship Awards that it plans to create an investment fund targeting women entrepreneurs. CBN governor Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi reportedly said that the fund, to be created in 2012, aims to ensure that microenterprises owned by women have access to loans with interest rates that fall below ten percent. Neither the size of the fund nor the details of any intermediaries that may be involved in fund disbursal have been released.

The Banker’s Committee of CBN designated that 2012 will be the year of women’s empowerment. In conjunction with this year’s theme, part of CBN’s mission is to solicit commitment from Nigerian banks to reserve a percentage of their management positions for women. Mr. Sanusi reportedly believes that increasing the number of women in top positions in the microfinance sector will increase financial inclusion. According to Mr. Sanusi, CBN made a commitment at last year’s Alliance for Financial Inclusion Global Policy Forum to lower Nigeria’s financial exclusion rate from 46.3 percent to 20 percent by 2020.

The 24 Nigerian microfinance institutions reporting data to the US-based nonprofit Microfinance Information Exchange (MIX) held an aggregate gross loan portfolio of USD 84.4 million distributed to approximately 482,000 borrowers as of 2010.

By Charlotte Newman, Research Associate

About Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) was established in 1958 as Nigeria’s central banking authority. As defined by the Act of Parliament that created CBN, its statutory mandates are as follows: “to issue legal tender currency; to maintain external reserves; to safeguard the international value of the legal tender currency; to promote monetary stability and a sound financial system in Nigeria; and to act as banker and financial adviser to the Federal Government.” As of July 2011, CBN reports total assets of NGN 8.37 trillion (USD 54 billion).

Sources and Additional Resources:

Leadership: “CBN to Establish Special Fund to Empower Women,” http://leadership.ng/nga/articles/15655/2012/02/07/cbn_establish_special_fund_empower_women.html

MicroCapital.org story, February 15, 2012, “MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Citibank Nigeria to Launch Citi Microenterprise Development for Rural Farmers Initiative,” https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-citibank-nigeria-to-launch-citi-microenterprise-development-for-rural-farmers-initiative/

MicroCapital.org story, February 10, 2012, “MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Plans Still on for Nigeria to Create Microfinance Development Fund in 2012,” https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-plans-still-on-for-nigeria-to-create-microfinance-development-fund-in-2012/

MicroCapital Universe Profile: Central Bank of Nigeria
https://www.microcapital.org/microfinanceuniverse/tiki-index.php?page=Central+Bank+of+Nigeria+%28CBN%29

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