Nigerian exporters benefited directly from loans of up to 80 per cent of the total project cost in both local and foreign currencies from the Nigeria Export Import (NEXIM) Bank.
Assistant General Manager and Head, Project Finance Department, NEXIM Bank, Reverend Ifeanyi Nwade, who disclosed this recently in Abuja, said that not all items are eligible for financing by the bank.
Such items, according to him, include arms ammunition and other military equipment.
Also prohibited are psychotropic drugs and narcotics, as well as all items banned by international conventions, such as obscene materials.
Nwade explained that the bank is facing more challenges in the discharge of its responsibilities, noting that funds at the disposal of the bank are not enough, owing, according to him, to competing needs for government’s limited financial resources.
He, however, expressed optimism in terms of opening local and foreign economic landscapes for genuine exporters to conquer.
Nwade explained that the African Development Bank (AfDB) recently signed a deal to provide two sovereign-guaranteed multi-tranche lines of credit of $500 million $200 million to the Bank of Industry (BoI) and NEXIM.
He said: “Beyond financing export, NEXIM identifies transport infrastructure as one the major problems of export trade and is, therefore, committed to facilitating the removal of trade barriers to commercial exchanges among Economic Community of West African Countries (ECOWAS) member-states even beyond the sun-region.”
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