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The Bank of Industry has reported a 14.9% increase in its support to micro, small and medium enterprises in the country, as it increased disbursement of loans to this important sector of the economy to N33.9bn in 2018, up from the N29.5bn it disbursed to enterprises in this sector in 2017.

The Bank’s chairman, Alh. Abdulrahman Dikko made this revelation at the 59th Annual General Meeting of the Bank which held at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja recently. According to the Chairman, the impressive performance of the Bank in the business year being reported could be seen in different parameters: increase in disbursement of loans to N259.6 billion to various beneficiaries; breaking the trillion naira mark in total assets as the group’s total asset grew by 49 per cent from N713.3 billion in 2017 to ₦1.07 trillion in 2018; increase in the bank’s profit before tax at ₦36.7bn, indicating a 39 per cent increase than the ₦26.4bn which was achieved in the previous year.

Also speaking at the event, the Managing Director/Chief Executive, Bank of Industry (BoI), Mr. Olukayode Pitan disclosed that a total of N44.34 billion was disbursed to beneficiaries of the federal government’s social intervention programmes at the end of 2018.

He said through the implementation of the N-Power programme, one of the social protection schemes, soft loans valued at N15.34 billion were provided to 199,989 beneficiaries to purchase work-tools in sectors such as agriculture, health and education.

He added that under the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP), which is also a component of the social investment programme, the Bank facilitated the disbursement of N29 billion to 1,550,000 beneficiaries nationwide through its flagship intervention namely TraderMoni and MarketMoni.