The National Economic Reconstruction Fund (NERFUND): achievements, constraints and prospects.

Abstract

This paper reviews and appraises the National Economic Reconstruction Fund (NERFUND), which is one of the specialized financing facilities for promoting small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs). The study notes that given the importance of SEMs in the industrialization process, particularly in the areas of employment generation and development of indigenous technology, evaluating the effectiveness of the scheme is of major interest especially to inform policy analysis and choices. The paper examines the objectives of operational modalities of NERFUND, analyses the implementation problems of the scheme and assesses the achievements so far and the prospects of the scheme.