ABUJA – Dr Ousmane Dore, Country Director, African Development Bank (AfDB), Nigeria Field Office, said on Thursday that the bank’s total portfolio in Nigeria as at December 2014 was about 3.09 billion dollars (N519.12 billion).
Dore disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.
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He said the total value of the bank’s group public sector portfolio during the period was 1.41 billion dollars (N236.88 billion), while investments in the private sector totalled 1.68 billion dollar (N282.24 billion).[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”10″]
Dore explained that the projects portfolio covered the supports to both public and private sectors in the[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”10″]
country which were given as loans during the year.
He explained that the loans were investments that were channelled to infrastructural development which essentially comprised water and sanitation projects, energy and transport and agriculture in the country.
The country director said the bank’s intervention in key sectors of the economy was in line with its [pro_ad_display_adzone id=”10″]
strategy which was designed in collaboration with the Federal Government.
According to him, that strategy calls for an intervention focus on infrastructure development and supporting policy environment so that the country can best use its resources for development.
“In the contest of that strategy today, the total value of our portfolio in this country amounts to almost 3 billion dollars of which we have 1.41 billion dollars in the public sector.
“However, we have 1.68 billion dollars in the private sector today,” he said.
Dore said the bank’s loan approval for the public and private sectors and policy based assistance grants for the country in 2014 alone was 1.44 billion dollars (N243.31 billion).
He explained that the bank approved 11 new projects in the public and private sectors.
It also approved three policy-based technical support grants through the Middle Income Country Technical Assistance Fund (MIC-TAF) during the year.
According to him, in the public sector, the bank approved a total of 700 million dollars (N117.60 billion) as loans, of which 200 million dollars (33.60 billion), is for Port Harcourt Water supply and sanitation.
The country director explained that the bank also approved 500 million dollars (N84 billion) for the establishment of the Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN) during the year.
He said that in private sector, AfDB approved a total of 747 million dollars (N125.49 billion) as loans for some companies and commercial banks in 2014.
According to him, 100 million dollars (N16.8 billion) line of credit is approved for Access Bank and 125 million dollars (N21 billion) for Zenith Bank, to support domestic oriented SME financing.
“The bank also approved 12 million dollars for LAPO Microfinance bank, 25 million dollars for Stanbic IBTC Clean Technology Fund and 100 million dollars for Stanbic IBTC-Rand Merchant Bank.
“Accordingly, 5 million dollars was approved for AB Microfinance Nigeria Ltd SME programme.
“Also during the year, the bank approved a loan of 150 million dollars for the Lekki Tolaram Road project; which is a private sector initiative, which AfDB sees the need to be part of.
“The bank approved 300 million dollars for Dangote Industries Ltd for its refinery project, while 30 million dollars was approved as loan for Oku-Iboku Pulp Paper Mill project in Cross River,” he said.
Dore added that the approval for the policy-based technical assistance grant for the country during the year was 1.27 million dollars (N212.85 million). (NAN)