By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, will next week inaugurate team of the Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN).
This will take place at a parley with members of the press in Abuja.
The executive management team to be announced by the Minister will see to the running of the development financing institution aimed to help Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) in the country with finance.
The DBN will provide loans to all sectors of the economy including, manufacturing, services and other industries not currently served by existing development banks thereby filling an important gap in the provision of finance to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).
It would lend wholesale to microfinance banks, which would provide medium to long-term loans to MSMEs.
Already, Federal Government has applied for an operating license from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) ahead of the kick off date.
It is expected to begin operations with $1.3 billion (N396.5 billion), jointly provided by the World Bank, KfW (German Development Bank), the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Agence Française de Development (French Development Agency).
The bank is also finalising agreements with the European Investment Bank (EIB) for more investment. The DBN’s major mandate is to spur growth through financing of projects, particularly the medium, small and medium scale industries.
It would be recalled that the DBN was conceived in 2014 however, its take-off had been fraught with delays with the current administration last year promising to resolve all outstanding issues and set a target of 2017 for its take-off.
