By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, has revealed that the proposed Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN) will commence full operation by January 2017.
Mrs Adeosun made this disclosure at a programme held in Lagos.
The Minister explained that the bank will provide low cost funds to existing and start up Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the country and will start with an initial $1.3 billion (about N400 billion) capital base.
It was earlier reported that the bank was billed to commence operation in July 2016 with $323 million (about N64 billion) funding supports from development finance banks in Africa.
It was learnt that the African Development Bank (AfDB) will support the new bank with $258.5 million, African Development Fund (ADF) with $32.6 million and Delta $32 million.
But the Minister has confirmed the commencement of DBN in January 2017.
“We are putting money into the Development Bank of Nigeria; that is a specialist bank that is focused on channelling low cost funds to existing and start up Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). It is a project that was supposed to start two years ago but has been stalling.
“We’ve got it going and we’re hoping it will take off in early 2017. That bank has $1.3 billion in capital that will be pumped into SMEs through micro finance banks and a few commercial banks at low cost because we know that once the SMEs grow you’ll start to see a lot more activities,” Mrs Adeosun said at ‘The Wealth Creation Platform’ in Lagos.
DBN, when in operation, will bridge the gap between the Bank of Industry and other commercial banks that could not satisfy the funding needs of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Nigeria.
The principal mission of the bank is to increase financial inclusion by providing access to credit finance.
Adedapo Adesanya