Nigeria faces over N50 trillion financing gap in real sector, says CPPE

The Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE) warned that Nigeria’s productive sectors – manufacturing, agriculture, agribusiness, micro, small and medium enterprises and export‑oriented businesses – are confronting a financing shortfall estimated at more than N50 trillion. CPPE chief executive Dr. Muda Yusuf said the gap stems from high lending rates, short loan tenors, stringent collateral requirements and a limited appetite for long‑term credit, compounded by a Monetary Policy Rate of 26.5 % and a Cash Reserve Ratio of 45 % that push commercial lending rates beyond what many firms can sustain.

Agriculture contributes over one‑fifth of GDP yet receives less than five percent of bank credit, while manufacturers need affordable medium‑ to long‑term financing for machinery, factory expansion, technology upgrades, energy infrastructure and export development. CPPE’s policy brief calls for comprehensive reforms, including recapitalising the Bank of Industry and the Bank of Agriculture, expanding credit‑guarantee schemes, introducing longer‑tenor refinancing windows, promoting supply‑chain and cash‑flow‑based lending, improving credit information systems and mobilising pension and insurance funds for productive investment. The think‑tank stresses that development‑finance measures must complement monetary stability rather than replace it.