LCCI tasks NSE on cheap funds for real sector

The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has sought partnership with stakeholders at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) in promoting accessibility to cheap funds with long tenors for operators in the real sector.

According to the chamber, mobilising capital for investors in the real sector will foster economic growth.

The Chamber’s President, Babatunde Ruwase, during a courtesy visit to the NSE on Monday in Lagos, the costs of fund in money market as well as tenor of funds are not in tune with the yearning of investors, especially those with a long term perspective.

According to him, lack of access to cheap funds has constrained the growth of key sectors including agriculture, manufacturing, property, construction, infrastructure among others.

“All these sectors need affordable long term funds. The Capital Market window naturally provides the good option for funding of such investments. We would like to see a better impact of this funding window. There is also need to collectively strengthen advocacy to make pension funds available for long term financing needs of the economy”, he added.

Ruwase also emphasised the need for the stakeholders to work together to explore options of financing of small businesses.

“As in many other economies, SMEs are critical to economic development especially the creation of jobs and the promotion of inclusiveness in the Nigerian Economy. Funding SMEs remains a major challenge in our economy. It has been difficult to unlock the potentials in the sector partly as result of this problem.

“We would like to partner with the NSE in the promotion of good corporate governance and scaling up of business ethics. We are concerned about the deterioration of values of trust and integrity in Business practices”, he said.

Considering that monetary, fiscal and trade policies have significant impact on the performance of the stock market and private sector investments, Ruwase called for collaboration to promote investment friendly policies in the economy through regular engagements with the relevant authorities of government.

Ruwase added saying: “We need to attract more private capital [domestic and foreign] into this economy, especially now that it is obvious that the government does not have the financial resources to fix the economy.

“There are several other areas in which we can collaborate especially in sharing information. It is our hope that this interaction will occur more frequently so that together we can deliberate on response strategies to emerging challenges in the economy”.