The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele has said the bank is ready to give more financial support to the Lagos Free Zone after already committing up to N100 billion into the project.
Emefiele disclosed this in Lagos on Saturday after a tour of the 850 hectares project which is meant to turn around the economy of the country.
Speaking at the site, he said the CBN offered the N100 billion through its Differentiated Cash Reserves Requirement (DCRR) Regime.
He said, “We are ready to provide Naira and Dollars funding to assist you. I will advise that you do a Naira loan because it is cheaper since you will spend the money here. We will continue to support businesses that have the potential to create more jobs for Nigerians”.
The DCRR is a regime where deposit money banks interested in providing credit financing to greenfield (new projects) or brownfield (new/expansion projects) in the real sector (Agriculture/Manufacturing) may request for the release of their funds from their Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) to finance the projects subject to the banks providing evidence that the funds shall be channelled towards projects approved by the CBN.
On the Lekki Deep Sea Port which is part of the Lagos Trade Zone projects, Emefiele said he will be glad to see the port act at the hub for Nigeria’s export drive.
“I believe with the port, we will see the ease in exportation. Goods will be exported through the port and we will make forex available to manufacturers”.
