African Policy Makers Told To Evolve Development Policies

African Policy Makers Told To Evolve Development Policies

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, has urged Africa 's policy makers to evolve sound economic policies rather than maintain rigid conventions.

Sanusi made the call at the 5 th African Economic Conference in Tunis , Tunisia , saying that the peculiar development needs of the continent made it imperative for common sense rather than rigid positions.

According to him, courageous decisions will in the long term be of benefits to the continent. Tracing the successful development profile of China and India , among others, Sanusi said that African apex banks must be proactive in development risk initiatives.

Loans need be deployed for projects ad services

He said the banks should be ready to provide guaranteed loans for needed infrastructure.

''We need to stop being told how to think, maybe we need to teach the rest of the world how to think,” Sanusi said.

He said that the CBN, as an institution, had played calculated risks with its balance sheet to reposition the Nigerian economy, having established a N300 billion power infrastructure financing fund.

“It has provided N200 billion facility for refinancing and restructuring bank loans for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), manufacturing firms and the aviation sector…It has also created another N200 billion for commercial agriculture credit scheme,” Sanusi said.

He said that while the SMEs fund guaranteed loans by commercial banks, the CBN approach absorbed some of the risks which inhibited banks from lending to the real sector and limited collateral impediments.

On the commercial agricultural credit scheme, Sanusi said that the innovative programme “is expected to fast-track the development of large-scale agriculture and agricultural processing activities by providing credit at concessionary interest rates” .

The CBN Governor, however, cautioned that CBN interventions should not be seen as panacea for tackling African and Nigerian economic challenges. He stressed that complementary reform in other sectors must be followed to achieve sustainable long-term development in the continent.

NAN/Yinka