A financial expert, Mr Seyi Daramola, on Friday urged banks to help improve the economy by lending to the real sector rather than investing depositors’ funds in treasury bills.
Daramola told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that by the real sector, he was referring to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), medium-scale entrepreneurs and businesses generally.
“Investment in treasury bills was commanding high interest rate in Nigeria, attracting interest rate as high as per cent to 18 per cent.
“However, the rate is falling and the outlook shows that treasury bills may become less attractive.
`There is a need to support SMEs and provide equity to create more suitable environment for businesses to thrive.
“Furthermore, Nigeria can experience growth through massive investment from within and outside the country, if government encourages this,’’ he said.
Daramola, who is the Head, Fixed Income Security and Investment at Capitalfield Assets Management Company Ltd., said that Nigeria had one of the highest returns on investment in the world due to its population.
He called on the Central Bank of Nigeria to continue to stabilise the foreign exchange market to encourage investors.
“Once investors have the confidence confidence that their funds will not fizzle away due to forex-related issues, they will continue to bring in funds for investment into the country, therefore boosting liquidity.’’
The financial expert advised government to be sincere and prudent in it’s spending to restore investors’ confidence in the economy.
He said that the assets management arm of his company would be coming into the market with a conservative N500 million fixed income mutual funds before the end of the first quarter of 2018.
According to him, investors in the mutual funds will share the risk and benefits of investment in proportion to their participation in the portfolio.
“We intend to grow this mutual fund in the next two years to N5 million,’’ Daramola said. (NAN)