Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN). mage source: vanguardngr.com
More than N 631 billion in loans from the Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN) have been given to MSMEs across the nation.
The bank’s managing director, Dr. Tony Okpanachi, revealed during yesterday’s Annual General Meeting in Abuja that the bank’s loan disbursement record had increased by 31% from N482 billion in the previous year, reaching a sizeable amount by the end of the financial year on December 31, 2022.
The Managing Director of the bank, Dr. Tony Okpanachi, highlighted that as of December 2022, the Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN) had provided financing support to over 313,000 MSMEs across the country, disbursing over N531 billion.
This represents a growth of 31% in financing support and a 50% increase in MSMEs impacted, compared to the previous year, where N482 billion was disbursed to over 208,000 MSMEs.
The Trade and Commerce sector had the largest share of the bank’s loan portfolio by sector, accounting for 52.8 percent, followed by Manufacturing (13.5 percent), Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing (5.7 percent), and Oil & Gas (4.9 percent).
Despite the challenging economic environment both locally and globally, Dr. Okpanachi praised the bank’s impressive performance in the year under review.
The bank achieved earnings of N47.6 billion, a Profit Before Tax of N29.5 billion, and a cost to income ratio of 15.9 percent by the end of the 2022 Financial Year.
According to the bank’s managing director, the bank’s top priorities for its forthcoming fiscal year of 2023 will be financial stability and supplying critical credit to the MSME sector.
A dividend of N3.418 billion, or 25% of retained earnings (Profit After Tax and Statutory Reserve Transfers) for the year ending December 31, 2022, was issued by the bank as a result of its good financial performance.
Shareholders received N34.18 per share, including the Federal Government and institutional investors.