The African Development Bank (AfDB) Group, has said it has a robust portfolio in the financial sector of Nigeria with a total commitment valued at $1.32 billion.
Director-general, Nigeria Country Department of AfDB, Lamin Barrow, said this in Abuja, on Monday, at the signing of a $460,000 agreement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The agreement is to support the acquisition and deployment of automated surveillance system in the capital market.
The automated market surveillance system would enhance the SEC’s role in investor protection and ensure a transparent, fair and orderly market to reduce systemic risks.
Barrow said the figure represented 30 per cent of the Bank’s portfolio and that the bulk of the interventions were in the form of lines of credit to financial institutions which included a 10 million dollar financing package for Infrastructure Credit Guarantee Company Limited (infraCredit).
Barrow said the move was geared towards supporting the development of the corporate bond market, adding that the support for the bond market was particularly for infrastructure development and to mitigate currency risks.
The Director-general further said the Bank is also supporting Nigeria’s Infrastructure Debt Fund through a $10 million facility that provides long-term local currency debt financing.
”It is our desire to see growth of the equity market well beyond the current N28.16 trillion.
