COVID-19: CBN introduces regulatory forbearance for financial institutions

THE Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says it has approved a regulatory forbearance for the restructuring of credit facilities in the Other Financial Institutions (OFI) in order to further mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on households, businesses and regulated institutions.

According to a circular by the apex bank to all Other Financial Institutions,dated May 27 sighted by The ICIR, the CBN intervention facilities availed through participating OFIs are granted a further one-year moratorium on all principal repayment effective from March 1, 2020.

The circular was signed by Kevin Amugo, Director, Financial Policy and Regulation Department.

Also, interest rates on the CBN intervention facility through participating financial institutions is reduced from 9 per cent to 5 per cent per annum effective March 1, 2020.

The apex bank said other financial institutions are granted leave to consider temporary and time-limited restructuring of the tenure and loan terms of households and businesses affected by the pandemic.

According to the apex bank, developments would be monitored and implementation of appropriate measures to safeguard financial stability and support stakeholders impacted by  COVID-19 pandemic.

It would be recalled that the CBN in March announced six initial policy measures to contain the impacts of COVID-19 on the Nigerian economy.