BY AMAKA ABAYOMI
THE Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has disclosed that loans and advances disbursed by micro-finance banks (MfBs) in the first half of year 2011 increased by 23.8 per cent to N65.5 billion, as against N52.9bn recorded at end-December 2010.

According to the Economic Report for the first half of 2011 released by the CBN, MfBs’ total assets and liabilities increased by 9.9 per cent to N187.2bn,  while their paid-up share capital and shareholders’ funds increased by 7.2 and 7.8 per cent over the levels in December 2010 to N44.5bn and N47.4bn, respectively.

“Investible funds available to the microfinance sub-sector amounted to N17.7bn, compared with N8.8bn at end-June 2010,” the Report said.

“The funds were sourced mainly from increases in deposit liabilities (N9.3bn), paid-up capital (N3.0bn) and long-term loans (N2.8bn); and were used mainly to increase loans and advances (N12.6bn), balances with banks (N2.8bn) and short-term investments (N2bn).”

Continuing, the Report stated that among the resolutions reached at the 5th Annual Micro-finance Conference and Entrepreneurship Awards which had 1,198 participants are: the huge benefits of micro-leasing and micro-insurance should be explored by MFBs/MFIs to deepen financial inclusion; MFBs should inculcate sound risk management practices and good corporate governance, design innovative products and financial literacy/education for their clients; the CBN should endeavour to enhance the financial literacy of MSMEs; and the CBN should align regulatory actions with other policies of government, for harmony, economic and financial stability.

Microfinance policy

Also, the key decisions reached at the 11th meeting of the National Microfinance Policy Consultative Committee (NMFPCC) held on January 8, 2011 were: the deferment of the sensitization exercise and the stoppage of licensing of new MfBs; training of operators in the first and third quarters of 2011; and commencement of operations of the microfinance rating agencies in the fourth quarter of 2011.

Of equal importance is the launch of the Rural Finance Institutions Building (RUFIN) Programme, an IFAD-assisted programme in Abuja in February 2011.

The participating agencies were the CBN, Bank of Agriculture, National Poverty Alleviation Agency (NAPEP) and the Federal Department of Co-operatives.

Furthermore, the CBN, RUFIN, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and NBS met to harmonise the baseline surveys on the National Micro-finance Development Strategy (NMDS) and RUFIN.

The baseline survey would provide reliable and up-to-date database on the activities of the microfinance and rural finance sub-sector.

The pilot phase of the Entrepreneurship Development Centres (EDCs)  was completed by the consultants and the final report was submitted to the Management of the CBN.

This resulted to the establishment of State Entrepreneurship Development Satellite Centres in nine states and Abuja.

Already, 84,758 entrepreneurs, comprising 42,615 graduate trainees and other 42,143 trainees who were offered business advisory services, have been trained by the EDCs.