The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) on Saturday faulted the Federal Government failure for not addressing the issue of high interest rates by commercial banks in the 2022 budget.
President Muhammadu Buhari presented the budget proposals to the National Assembly on Thursday.
Chairman of ACF, Chief Audu Ogbe, said in a statement that high bank interest rates charged would kill the nation’s economy.
Chief Ogbe noted that no business could survive with 27 to 30 per cent interest rate.
The northern sociocultural group, further, stated that while the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had made efforts to reduce the interest rates, commercial banks still charged exorbitant rates.
Read him: “For nearly three decades, we have endured the most outrageous interest rates that any developing country can endure.
“How can we continue to pay lip service to the vital issue of the growth of SME’s Small and Medium Scale Enterprises, the prosperity of the younger generation if we make it impossible for them to access credit?
“We appreciate the efforts of the Central Bank of Nigeria CBN, but we regret to say those efforts will not solve the problem when Commercial Banks are still charging 27-30%.
“What kind of business will anybody do with such interest rates?
“We think that the Nigerian economy cannot experience real growth if access to reasonable credit remains forever blocked.”
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