The Bank of Industry (BoI) recorded N2.3 trillion profit before tax under President Muhammadu Buhari, says Aliyu Dikko, chairman of the bank’s board of directors.

Mr Dikko stated this on the sidelines of BoI’s 63rd annual general meeting in Abuja.

“It has been excellent. If you look at the eight years when we came on board, the total assets of the bank were about N630 billion. Right now, it has grown to about 2. 3 trillion. So you can see that it has multiplied by more than three times,” the BoI honcho stated. “So the bank has done excellently well in the last eight years.”

On micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), Mr Dikko said the risk encountered in MSMEs was that money could be lost easily.

According to him, this makes it difficult for financial institutions to give out loans to small business owners quickly.

”What we are trying to get the government to do, is to create a corporation that guarantees SMEs,” the BoI chair explained. “Once we have that, the bank will be willing to give to the SMEs because they know that whatever they give to them is guaranteed by any organisation. ”

On the bank’s projections for 2023, the board chairman said Africa’s economic growth was expected to remain slow due to spillover effects from uncertainties in the global environment.

He said as the debt servicing burden rises, many African governments are expected to seek bilateral and multilateral support to manage the adverse economic impact.

(NAN)