Development Bank: We disbursed N191.7bn loans to MSMEs in 2020

April 2, 2021 1:48 pm

The Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN) says it disbursed loans worth N191.7 billion to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in 2020.

DBN, in a statement on Thursday, said the figure represents an increase of 89 percent from total loan disbursements of N101.5 billion in 2019.

Presenting a breakdown of its 2020 financial report, DBN said it recorded a growth of 4 percent in total assets from N474.7 billion in 2019 to N493.5 billion in 2020, while outstanding loans increased by 110 percent from N101.9bn in 2019 to close at N214.0bn in 2020.

“Income from loans also grew significantly by 60 per cent year-on-year from ₦6.6bn in 2019 to ₦10.5bn in 2020; return on assets and return on equity stood at 4 per cent and 11 per cent respectively for the year ended December 31, 2020,” the statement added.

“Several cost containment strategies were deployed by the bank resulting in a 12 percent decrease in operating expense year on year.”

The bank noted that its earnings remained strong at N34.6 billion at the end of 2020 despite the harsh economic difficulties brought about by the coronavirus outbreak.

Tony Okpanachi, managing director of DBN, said the bank will continue to focus on its core mandate of driving developmental impact.

“We appreciate the full cooperation of our board, management, staff, and other stakeholders as we were able to operate within strict health and safety guidelines, while increasing our reach to our target market,” he said.

“By onboarding more participating financial institutions, we were able to deepen financial inclusion for more micro, small, and medium scale enterprises (MSMEs) whose businesses were adversely affected by the pandemic, thereby injecting a new lease of life and providing the right environment for their sustained growth.”

DBN is a wholesale development finance institution. This implies that it cannot give loans directly to individual clients and small businesses, rather it does this through participating financial institutions.