‘Why govt should make loans cheaper for entrepreneurs’

Government must begin to look at fiscal policies that can reduce interest rates, to make loans cheaper for willing entrepreneurs to enable them to create employment, the Chief Executive Officer of Baobab Microfinance Bank, Nigeria, Dr Olanrewaju Kazeem, has said.

Olanrewaju at the 2022 customer forum in Lagos decried the recent hike in the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) by the Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) from 11.5 per cent to 13 per cent; lamenting that, the increase is going to make the cost of funds within the system expensive.

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According to him, if people can access loans faster and cheaper, they may be able to create more employment and the issue of insecurity and banditry may be reduced to the barest minimum.

While he described Government as an enabler, he stressed the need for it to play that role to stimulate economic activities in the country where people would be gainfully employed and engage in economic activities that can translate to prosperity in the lives of citizens. 

Baobab MfB boss also lamented that insecurity has remained a challenge to the operations of the bank, particularly in the northern region; adding that the high cost of diesel as a result of the war in Ukraine is also affecting the operations of the bank adversely.

The customer forum, Olanrewaju said is an annual event organised to interact with customers with a view to getting feedback from them and intimate them about the development, plans and aspirations of the bank.

“Also, between last year and now, we have supported our customers with over N40 billion, we have grown the loan book to well over N30bn and our staff strength has increased to over 600,” he said.