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Nigerian Bank FCMB Gets $50 Million Loan from IFC Over Virus

Nigerian Bank FCMB Gets $50 Million Loan from IFC Over Virus

FCMB Group Plc, a Nigerian lender, obtained a $50 million loan from International Finance Corp. to support companies affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

The fund is from an $8 billion credit facility launched in March by the World Bank’s private-lending arm to support companies impacted by Covid-19, the Lagos-based lender said in an emailed statement. It will enable FCMB to “support hundreds of businesses with trade financing and working capital loans,” it said.

Nigeria’s lockdown, to curb the spread of coronavirus, shuttered businesses in the West African nation and caused profits to plummet. The loan aims to provide liquidity to FCMB customers to remain “viable during and after COVID-19,” IFC said in the statement.

FCMB said in May it plans to restructure half of its loans after the pandemic affected corporate clients and impairment charges surged 61% to 3.7 billion naira ($9.6 million) in the first quarter.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.