The African Development Bank (AfDB) Group, said its financial sector portfolio in Nigeria is $1.3 billion in valuation, which is about 30 percent of the bank’s portfolio.
Kanin Barrow, Director-General, Nigeria Country Department, AfDB, made this known in Abuja during a meeting with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
As part of the efforts to enhance the SEC’s role in investor protection and ensure a transparent, fair, and orderly market that reduces systemic risks, AfDB and SEC signed the agreement to support the acquisition and deployment of automated surveillance systems in the capital market.
The DG said the intervention included a $10 million financing package for Infrastructure Credit Guarantee Company, Limited (infraCredit) which was geared toward supporting the development of the corporate bond market.
He revealed that the Bank is also supporting Nigeria’s Infrastructure Debt Fund through a $10 million facility that provides long-term local currency debt financing.
Barrow noted that the bulk of the interventions were in the form of lines of credit to financial institutions and that the support for the market was particularly for infrastructure development and mitigating currency risks.
He said ”The objective is to crowd-in local pension funds and other institutional investors for infrastructure development in Nigeria.
”The pandemic has reinforced global risk aversion, prompting international investors to move their portfolios into safer assets and havens.
” We desire to see the growth of the equity market well beyond the current N28.16 trillion.
”That is why the AfDB Group is supporting initiatives to integrate capital markets in Africa and innovative financial instruments.
”This has become even more urgent with the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) being operational.”
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