In the span of six years, a total of 321,867 Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) have benefitted from wholesale funding amounting to $1.4 billion, as revealed by the World Bank in a report released on Friday.

The report, titled ‘Tackling access to finance for micro, small and medium enterprises,’ highlighted that these funds were disbursed through the Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN) to provide long-term loans and risk-sharing facilities for small enterprises.

66 percent of these enterprises were owned by women, and 12 percent were first-time borrowers.

ALSO READ: Eni temporarily halts World Bank arbitration in OPL 245 dispute

The World Bank emphasized that access to finance remains a significant and persistent challenge for MSMEs in Nigeria. The report noted that as of 2014, only 6.7 percent of enterprises reported having a loan or an active line of credit.

MSME loans constituted a mere five percent of total commercial bank lending by volume and represented only two percent of banking-sector assets.

Despite MSMEs being crucial to the Nigerian economy, their growth has been severely hampered by limited access to finance, with the private credit-to-GDP ratio remaining low and concentrated primarily in the oil and gas sector and large conglomerates.

In response to this challenge, the Ministry of Finance sought support from the World Bank, resulting in the launch of the Nigeria Development Finance Projects with a $500 million loan.

The Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN) has since gained recognition for its equitable, responsive, and innovative approach among its 28 partner financial institutions.

ALSO READ: Governor Sanwo-Olu appeals for funding solutions to address water shortage in Lagos

Noteworthy achievements of the project include wholesale funding to Partner Financial Institutions (PFIs) totaling the naira equivalent of $1.4 billion, facilitating on-lending to over 321,000 MSMEs.