November 28, 2017

An investment Analyst, Mr Emmanuel Eze, on Tuesday advised the CBN to reduce lending rate from 14 to 12 per cent for small businesses to thrive in the country.

Eze, who is also the Chief Executive Officer of Perfecter Investment Trust, gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.

He said that reducing the rate was imperative for commercial banks in the country to have enough liquidity to finance entrepreneurs.

“Small businesses will be able to access credit facilities at less than 15 per cent from banks and will expand their businesses within a short time frame.

“The impact on entrepreneurs will be positive so much that they will be employing young Nigerians thereby reducing the unemployment challenges of our society.’’

Ezeh said the need to bring down lending rate could not be over-emphasised, especially now that the country’s economic parameters were quite stable.

“In recent times, the economy of our country has been relatively okay as inflation rate has been on decline and there has been improvement in the capital market and rise in foreign reserves caused by increase in oil price.

“So there is need to reduce the rates to boost small businesses to sustain the exit from recession,’’ he argued.

On Nov. 21, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the CBN retained the benchmark lending rate and other monetary policy rates in its bid to sustain macro-economic stability.

The CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, said that seven members of the MPC were present at the meeting and six members voted for the retention of the rates.

There has been no major monetary policy change in Nigeria since July last year.