COVID-19: CBN, banks agree to extend special facilities to airlines, media

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the bankers’ committee have agreed to extend special facilities to Nigerian-registered airlines and the media to enable them to deal the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Isaac Okorafor, the CBN director of corporate communications, said the decision was reached at the bi-monthly virtual meeting of the bankers’ committee on Tuesday.

Okorafor quoted Godwin Emefiele, the CBN governor, as saying banks should do all within their powers to support airlines as such support is critical to helping the industry recover from the economic crisis triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Similarly, the apex bank’s governor also advised the banks to support the efforts of the media industry in Nigeria to cope with the lingering pandemic in order to avoid massive job losses in the industry.

At the onset of the pandemic, the CBN had announced a N1.2 trillion intervention funds to support critical sectors of the economy; N1 trillion of which was to support local manufacturing sector and to boost import substitution.

The remaining N100 billion of the intervention fund was to support the health sector in equipping laboratories and enhancing research to produce vaccines and test kits in Nigeria.

In March 2020, the bank also unveiled guidelines for the implementation of a N100 billion targeted credit facility (TCF) as a stimulus package to support households and micro, small and medium enterprises affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.