{
  "id": 11349760,
  "title": "IFC: Less than 5% Commercial Bank Lending Going to Agriculture is Serious Devt Gap",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/02/ifc-less-than-5-commercial-bank-lending-going-to-agriculture-is",
  "topic": "finance",
  "section": "Finance & Markets",
  "published": "2026-10-02T03:47:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "This Day",
    "slug": "this-day",
    "url": "https://www.thisdaylive.com/2026/10/02/ifc-less-than-5-commercial-bank-lending-going-to-agriculture-is-serious-devt-gap/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has highlighted a significant development gap in Nigeria, noting that less than five percent of commercial banks' lending is directed towards agriculture. The IFC made this statement in Lagos during a press briefing to encourage Nigerian financial institutions to participate in the upcoming \"African Financial Summit 2026,\" which is set to take place in Luanda, Angola in November.\n\nOliver Buyoya, Divisional Director, Nigeria and Central Africa at IFC, explained that the corporation is currently developing a value chain analysis to identify the obstacles preventing credit flow to the agricultural sector. Despite Nigeria having one of the most sophisticated banking sectors in Africa, the issue of agricultural lending remains a severe concern. Buyoya emphasized that understanding why this disparity has persisted for decades is crucial.\n\nThe IFC official explained that commercial banks, as financial intermediaries, are less likely to invest in sectors perceived as risky. He stated that the solution lies in reevaluating the agricultural sector through a value chain perspective, specifically focusing on how to transport and market the goods produced. The IFC aims to bring together stakeholders from various financial service sub-sectors to collaboratively find solutions for agricultural financing.\n\nHicham El Morabet, Director of AFIS (African Financial Inclusion Strategy), pointed out the paradox of Africa wherein financial institutions generate substantial returns, averaging around 90%, while the cost of finance remains prohibitively high, hindering businesses in the real sector from obtaining necessary funding. El Morabet outlined six strategic priorities for the summit, including ensuring finance reaches the real sector, scaling with purpose, leveraging technology uniquely tailored to Africa, transforming African savings into investments, integrating efforts to enhance scale, and expediting financial rules.\n\nHe noted that while the financial sector is performing well, with African institutional investors managing more than $2 trillion in assets, there is a significant gap between financial sector performance and the real economy's ability to access financing for infrastructure projects and corporate development. The summit's theme, \"Making Capital Count: Unlocking Growth Through African Finance,\" reflects the IFC's commitment to addressing this critical development gap.",
  "summary": "• Mobilises Nigerian financial institutions for African Finance Summit Dike Onwuamaeze International Finance Corporation (IFC) says with less than five per cent of commercial banks’ lending in Nigeria going to",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}