The Bank of Industry (BoI) has said that it would begin implementation of its 2022- 2024 medium-term corporate strategy titled “Sustaining Purposeful Growth “
Freedom Post reports that Mallam Aliyu Dikko, Chairman of BoI, said at the 62nd Annual General Meeting ( AGM) of the bank on Thursday in Abuja that the strategy was developed in line with the priorities set by the Federal Government’s National Development Plan (2021- 2025)
He said that the plan was aimed at promoting rapid multi-sectoral- growth and development of the Nigerian economy.
The chairman said that the Nigerian economy rebounded in 2021 upon recovering from the recession in 2020 which manifested in negative GDP growth of 1.92 percent.
He added that the recession marked the second in five years as well as the worst in the last four decades on account of COVID-19.
He said that GDP growth rates of 0.51 percent, 5.01 percent and 4.03 percent were thereafter achieved in the first three quarters of 2021.
“The improved performance was driven by local commercial and production activities, and digitalisation of operations mostly accounted for the growth.
“The key sectors for growth were trade, manufacturing, information and communication technology, financial services and logistics,” he said.
Dikko added that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had revised upward its growth forecast for the Nigerian economy in 2022.
“IMF revised the 2022 growth forecast to 3.4 percent growth from its earlier projections of 2.7 percent, citing increasing oil prices as a key factor,” he said.
He also quoted IMF as saying that growth was expected from information, communication and technology, financial services, manufacturing, trade, construction travel , entertainment and hospitality sectors.
He, however, said that other sub-sectors were also expected to experience appreciable growth within the year
Also speaking, Mr Olukayode Pitan, Managing Director of BOI, said that the bank was able to successfully scale up its developmental impacts in the year under review compared to the previous year, in spite of COVID-19.
He added that 2021 was a year of recovery for most organisations and economies following the tumultuous operating environment of 2020
According to him, this improved performance is an indication of the commitment of its, board, management and members of staff towards achieving their corporate objectives.
He said: “At BoI, we have since taken measures to ensure that our systems, processes and people are continuously equipped to meet the evolving business environment.
“Today, we are a more agile and adaptive institution, able to provide the necessary developmental support for Nigeria’s real sector in an ever-changing economy.
“Our commitment to building a resilient organisation that can respond to the needs of our customers and operating challenges is unwavering.
“We strongly believe that we can achieve this with the continuous support of the stakeholders.”
Pitan said that, at the peak of COVID-19 in 2020, the bank took steps to support customers with two percent reduction in interest rates for a year alongside an extension of loan tenors and moratoriums,
“The operating environment improved in 2021 and the bank decided to extend these incentives by another year until March 31, 2022.
“Additionally, all ongoing projects were reviewed to assess emerging risks and opportunities and also additional support was provided.
“In the year under review, the bank disbursed a total of N213.63 billion to 30,406 Nigerian enterprises through both direct and indirect methods.
“This represents a 47.3 percent increase over disbursements in 2020.
“The 2021 disbursements include N2.99billion to 22,120 farmers through our smallholder farmers on lending product and one billion Naira to 4,000 micro- retailers through our MSMEs distributor finance programme,” he said.
