The requirement for provision of guarantors by households and SMEs applying for its N50 billion COVID-19 Targeted Credit Facility has been waived by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The apex bank who revealed this via its official twitter account, also confirmed, through one of its sources, that the reason for waiving the guarantor requirement was to reduce the stress on applicants trying to access the loan.

The source said: “The CBN wants to minimise the stress on applicants but that does not mean that they will not pay back the loan. They will.”

The CBN initiated the N50 billion COVID-19 Targeted Credit Facility for households and SMEs to mitigate the harsh economic impact of the corona virus pandemic.

Already, thousands of Nigerians have applied for the loan while the implementing agency the NIRSAL Microfinance Bank (NMFB) has been processing the applications for disbursement.