CBN Partners NIBSS On National Domestic Card Scheme January 2023

BY CHINYERE OBIORA, LAGOS – Determined to strengthen the nation’s payment system ad conserved foreign exchange, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will launch the National Domestic Card Scheme (NDCS) by next year.

Accordingly, apex bank plans to collaborate with Nigerian Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) to launch the scheme which is expected to commence on January 16, 2023

The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele disclosed this at the Chartered Institute of Banker of Nigeria (CIBN) bankers’ dinner in Lagos, saying the scheme will not only lower operating costs for banks incurring huge charges for foreign card schemes, but will also reduce the huge foreign exchange commitments associated with operating foreign card schemes.

Emefiele, who presented outlook for the nation’s economy in 2023, said Nigerians must embrace the new Naira notes, stressing that the decision to redesign the higher denomination notes was made in the best interests of the country.

He also said combating oil theft remains a critical element in building strong foreign exchange reserves and achieving a stable Naira exchange rate.

Additionally, the CBN Governor forecasted a drop in inflation to less than 15 percent in 2023, as well as positive economic growth, saying, “Our policy stance will, accordingly, remain tight to curtail inflation pressure, regulate capital flows, and buoy the naira-dollar exchange rate.”

“Monetary policy decisions will remain balanced, judicious, research-driven, adequate and supportive of the real economy subject to underlying fundamentals.”

Emefiele further said to support productivity given ongoing external threats, especially in addressing some of the existing structural failures of the Nigerian economy, the CBN has sustained its interventions at various levels.

He said the interventions focused on stimulating productivity in manufacturing sector, bolstering domestic industries, revolutionising agricultural output to ensure self-sufficiency and shielding the local economy from harmful external shocks.

A breakdown of the interventions indicated that between July and August this year, CBN disbursed N54.82 billion to several agricultural projects under Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP), bringing the cumulative disbursements under the Programme to N1,026.27 trillion to over 4.6 million smallholder farmers cultivating 21 different commodilies across the country.

Similarly, the Bank also released N0.70 billion to finance large-scale agricultural projects under the Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme (CACS), bringing the total disbursements under the Scheme to N745.02 billion for 679 projects in agro-production and agro-processing.

He said the Bank released the sum of N66.99 billion under the N1.0 trillion Real Sector Facility to 12 additional projects in manufacturing and agriculture.

Furthermore, under the 100 for 100 Policy on Production and Productivity (PPP), the Bank has disbursed the sum of N20.17 billion to 14 projects in healthcare, manufacturing, and services.

This brings the cumulative disbursements under the facility to N93.39 billion to 62 projects across manufacturing, agriculture, healthcare, and services.

As part of efforts to help resuscitate Nigeria’s textile industry and promote economic development in the textile and garment sector, the Bank injected the sum of N1.50 billion under the textile sector intervention facility (TSIF), bringing the total disbursements under the scheme to N97.80 billion.

In support of the resilience of the healthcare sector, the Bank also disbursed N4.00 billion to two healthcare projects under the Healthcare Sector Intervention Facility (HSIF), bringing the cumulative disbursements to N130.54 billion for 131 projects, comprising 32 pharmaceuticals, 60 hospital and 39 other services.

Under the export development fund (EDF) and Export Facilitation Initiative (EFI), the Bank funded several projects for non-oil export commodity value-addition and production with the sums of N11.89 billion and N3.24 billion, respectively.

In the Micro Small Medium Enterprise (MSME) sector, the bank supported entrepreneurship development with the disbursement of about N39.26 million to youth under the tertiary institutions entrepreneurship scheme (TIES).

With this latest development, the total disbursement under the intervention has now risen to about N332.43 million.