DBN disburses N31bn to MSMEs

Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN) recently disbursed N31 billion to Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the country in its first full year of operation in 2018.

The Managing Director of the bank, Mr. Tony Okpanachi, revealed this at the on-going Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank in Washington DC, USA.

Okpanachi said DBN has changed the landscape of MSMEs funding in the country with its innovative lending and focus on long-term loans to that sector of the economy.

In a presentation to a team of the World Bank Group and international investors on the achievements of DBN and its plans for the future, Okpanachi said that his team was working assiduously to achieve a disbursement level of about N100 billion at the end of this year, which could be scaled up to N389 billion at the end of 2023, when the bank marks five years in active lending operations.

According to him, the Partnering Finance Institutions (PFIs) had grown from two in 2017, when DBN started operations to 22 at the end of 2018, adding that the target for 2019 was to raise the number of PFIs to 30. Okpanachi stated: “Financial sustainability is our key focus from first day with steady profits in the last two years and a robust projection for 2019 and beyond.”

He told the investors and stakeholders that the bank had taken risk management seriously in its frameworks and policies and had recorded zero Non-Performing Loans.