CBN Disburses N109bn To Support Power Reform

THE Central Bank of
Nigeria (CBN) says it has disbursed
over N109 billion to 20 companies in
support of the ongoing power
reform in the country. The CBN
Governor, Malam Sanusi Lamido
Sanusi, disclosed this in Abuja at a
Special Forum on ‘Financing the
Power Sector Reforms for Economic
Development’.
“The CBN provided $10 million grant
to the Bureau of Public Enterprises
(BPE) which is what financed the
entire privatisation process. In the
interim, we provided long term fixed
single digit interest rate funds for
power investments by
manufacturers.
“We’ve disbursed over N109 billion
to 20 companies and I believe we
added about 500 mega watts of
electricity generation capacity to this
country,’’ he said.
Sanusi said the apex bank had
reviewed potential guidelines
recognising longer time formation
for asset quality. He also said that
the CBN, in collaboration with the
Ministry of Finance, was working to
review the development financing
institutions to create one institution
that can finance development.
Sanusi said that lending for
privatisation was the first step, but
“the only way loan gets back to the
banks will be if investment are made
in the other value chain’’.
“If a bank puts money to fund a
generating plant and the plant does
not have gas, does not produce
power, it will end up with a bad
loan. Therefore, we need to look at
all the investment going into gas,
generation, metering, and
transmission.
“I hope we recognise this as an
important first and final step in
financing the power sector,’’ he said.
Also commenting on bank lending to
the power sector, Mr Andrew Alli,
President African Finance
Corporation, said the organisation
had been the technical adviser to the
CBN on power and aviation sectors
intervention fund since the inception
of the fund.
He said the corporation had
disbursed about N226 billion to
projects in both sectors with about
N110 billion going into 23 unit
power projects financed by eleven
banks.
Alli said about seven projects were
still waiting for disbursement from
another six banks with total
financing value of about N12 billion.
He named some of the sponsored
projects to include Akute, an
independent power plant that
provides power to Lagos State,
Dangote Cement in Obajana and
Igbeshe and WABCO Nestle, among
others.
“In terms of impact, we have
financed about 790 megawatts,
almost 800 megawatts of power,
which is equivalent to 25 per cent of
the power generated on the national
grid,’’ he said.
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/10/
cbn-disburses-n109bn-support-power-
reform/

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