Nigerian manufacturers in the pharmaceutical sector have bemoaned the high interest rate, claiming it is destroying the sector. Recall that the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) increasing Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) has caused the Nigerian financial services industry, particularly merchant and commercial banks, to modify their lending rates. A total of 25 out of 31 lending financial institutions provide different economic sectors with maximum borrowing interest rates (ranging from 25 to 40 per cent) above the MPR.
For instance, FCMB, with an interest rate of 1.15 per cent on savings deposits, prices its loans at a maximum of 40 per cent and a prime lending rate of 22.50 per cent.
FSDH Merchant Bank allows prime customers to access loans at 18 per cent, while offering a maximum lending rate of 43 percent. Pharmaceutical manufacturers, who convened at the 13th Annual Symposium and Award Ceremony, organised by the Health Writers Association of Nigeria (HEWAN), in Lagos, averred that, no company could function on this percentage, while simultaneously urging the federal government to lower the MPR to 20 percent or less. Chairman of ST.
RACHEAL’S Pharmaceutical Nigeria Limited, Pharm. Akinjide Adeosun said Multinational corporations like GSK, Sanofi, and others have lately left Nigeria, and their departure has left a vacuum in the country. Operating in Nigeria has proven to be extremely tough for these pharmaceutical businesses due to a demanding economic environment that includes.