DBN disburses N31b loans to 35,000 beneficiaries

Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN), Tony Okpanchi, yesterday told the World Bank that DBN disbursed N31 billion to 35,000 beneficiaries in the last two years.He said the facilities were given to the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Nigeria.

He disclosed this during one of the side meetings at the ongoing IMF/ World Bank Meetings in Washington, United States of America with a World Bank Team led by its Director of Finance, Competitiveness, and Innovation, Sebastian Molineus. Okpanachi also told the World Bank, one of its key shareholders with investments worth $500 million that 35,000 loans to end borrowers affected 39 microfinance banks.

He said this created opportunity for MSMEs to access loans from the bank through either financial guarantees or from its financing. Other shareholders of DBN are, the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Africa Development Bank (AfDB), EIB (Europe), KfW (Germany) and AFD (France).