Pursuant to the economic evangelization mission of the Roman Catholic Church to alleviate poverty in the society, the Enugu-based Umuchinemere Pro-credit Micro Finance Bank (UPMFB), owned by the Catholic diocese of Enugu, gave the sum of ₦451,182,305 to active poor people within the diocese in the first six months of 2018.
The money given to a total of 2,114, among 809 female beneficiaries, was in loans of various forms and categories to improve their quality of lives by engaging in various types micro, small and medium enterprises and leap out of poverty.
About the same period in 2017, the UPMFB which first began operations on July 22, 1995 as a community bank and later transformed to a microfinance bank in 2007, gave a total of ₦409,205,200 to a total of 1,774 beneficiaries, a significantly below difference from that of the current financial year.
In the current financial year, the number of male beneficiaries was a total of 1,305 males and they received the sum of ₦257,045,905 of the ₦451,182,305 facilities which were interventions meant to fight poverty in the land.
Detailed information from the bank's head of Credit, Mr. Charles Udeani, indicates that both the Agriculture and Housing microfinance sectors received the sum of ₦30 million and ₦10.9 million respectively. Small businesses received a total of ₦98.1 million of the facilities.
Though the ₦451.1 million was below the bank's ₦600 million target in the first six months of the year, it is hoped that if the macro economic climate of the country improves the bank will meet its target for the year by the end of the year.
Signed
Sir Abuchi Anueyiagu
Head Public/Media Relations Unit