The Nigeria Export-Import Bank on Tuesday called on export-oriented Small and Medium Entrepreneurs in the South-East and Niger Delta region to access the N500bn Export Stimulation Facility and the N50bn Export Development Fund being managed by the lender.
The funds are expected to boost the SMEs, create more jobs, and contribute to the foreign exchange revenue earnings of the country.
The call was made by the Managing Director of NEXIM Bank, Mr. Abba Bello, during a one-day seminar on export potential.
The facilities were made available to NEXIM Bank last December by the Central Bank of Nigeria and it is expected to lend at a maximum of nine per cent interest rate.
Bello said the funds would address the declining export credit to the SMEs and reposition the non-oil sector to increase its contribution to the country’s revenue generation and economic development.
The improved export financing for non-oil exporters, according to him, will enable them to upscale and expand their businesses and improve their competitiveness.
Bello, who was represented at the event by the Head of NEXIM’s Enugu Regional Office, Mr. Chinedu Moghalu, stated, “NEXIM Bank is determined to ensure that these funds achieve the desired impact of triggering non-oil export development, growth and economic progress in line with its mandate as the trade policy bank of the Federal Government and the applicable CBN guidelines for the implementation of the facilities.”
He said under the ESF facility, the transaction that could be funded were export of goods wholly or partly processed or manufactured in Nigeria; export of commodities and services permissible and excluded under existing export prohibition lists; and import of plants and machinery, spare parts and packaging materials, required for export oriented production that could not be produced locally.
Other businesses eligible under the ESF are export value chain support services such as transportation, warehousing and quality assurance infrastructure; and resuscitation, expansion, modernisation and technology upgrade of non-oil exports industries. Stocking facility and working capital can also qualify for funding under the ESF.
“The overall aim of the ESF and EDF is to lower the costs of Nigerian exporters so that their products can be priced at a level where they can compete with other products around the world,” Bello added.
The Special Assistant the Enugu State Governor on SME Development, who represented his principal, Anayo Agu, stated that the fund would help to unlock the export potential of SMEs in the state.
He stated, “The invitation to the SMEs to access affordable non-oil export facilities had been the missing link in the efforts of various governments in the region to derive maximum benefits from their investments in the SME value chain, especially in the agriculture and other non-oil sectors.