The Chief Executive Officer of the Bank of Industry, Mr Olukayode Pitan, has said there exists a financing gap of about N1tn in the country every year. Pitan, while speaking at the Economic and Business Conference organised by Rand Merchant Bank in Lagos, noted that the BoI had invested over N20bn in the creative industry.
The conference was themed: ‘Unlocking the real sector growth to drive sustainable economic development.’ According to Pitan, BoI is the biggest financier of the creative industry.
While calling on other banks to partner key players in various sectors of the economy, Pitan said most companies were thronging to the BoI to borrow money because commercial banks were making it hard for businesses to thrive due to their over 20 per cent (sometimes 30 per cent) interest rate on loans.
He said, “People are coming to the BoI to borrow because it makes more sense to them. The BoI gives loans at 10 per cent interest rate; if we have an inflation of 11 per cent and loans are given out at 10 per cent, it means that the lending has been subsidised.
“The country has about N1tn funding gap every year. We want to help, but we have challenges with coming up with the funds people want. That is why we are calling on other banks for support.”