By Providence Obuh

Umuchinemere Pro-credit Micro Finance Bank (UPMFB) said it has disbursed  N247.72 million micro credit fund to 796 active poor people in Enugu State in the first quarter of 2016. The bank also said that the amount disbursed in the period under review was below its planned budget for disbursement, while attributing it to high cost of living that affected virtually all business activities in the country.

In a statement issued by the bank, Head of Credit/Business Development, Mr. Ikechukwu Ngene, expressed hope that the situation would improve in the second quarter of the year, when the national budget would have gone into implementation and economic activities revived.

He predicted that there would be economic improvement in the country by the end of the year, assuring that the bank was focused and determined to achieve its projected target of fund disbursement to create jobs and alleviate poverty by the end of 2016 .

He advised beneficiaries of the bank’s facilities to use the facilities wisely and ensure prompt payment, so as to continue to receive fund from the bank.

A breakdown of the disbursement shows that about 306 females received a total of N169, 039, 459 and N78,680, 500 was disbursed to a total of 490 male beneficiaries.

However, Special Adviser on Micro, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises to Enugu State Government, Mr. Anayo Agu, commended the bank’s poverty alleviation scheme since 2009 when it took up the management of the government’s special transport scheme, Coal City Cabs and Coal City Shuttle, aimed at creating jobs and empowering hundreds of unemployed youths in the State, just as he advised that they keep up the good work.