Business
World Bank Finally Approves $1.5billion Loan To Strengthen Nigeria’s Economy
The World Bank has finally approved Nigeria’s request for a $1.5 billion loan.
This was announced in a statement by World Bank on Tuesday noting that the facility is a five-year Country Partnership Framework (CPF) that will last from 2021 to 2024.
“This Country Partnership Framework will guide our engagement for the next 5 years in supporting the Government of Nigeria’s strategic priorities by taking a phased and adaptive approach,” World Bank Country Director for Nigeria, Shubham Chaudhuri said.
World Bank Board of Directors approved the $1.5 billion for two projects, which include: Nigeria Covid-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus – Program for Results (Nigeria CARES) and the State Fiscal Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability Program for Results (SFTAS).
The CPF will focus on four areas of engagement which include investing in human capital by increasing access to basic education, quality water, and sanitation services; improving primary healthcare; and increasing the coverage and effectiveness of social assistance programs.
Promoting jobs and economic transformation and diversification by supporting measures to unlock private investment and job creation and increasing access to reliable and sustainable power for households and firms.
The CPF will also focus on boosting digital infrastructure, and developing economic corridors and smart cities, to provide Nigerians with improved livelihoods.
Strengthening the foundations of the public sector by improving public financial management and strengthening the social contract between citizens and government through improved fiscal and debt management.
World Bank in the statement added that Nigeria is at a critical juncture, hence the approval of the loan.
“With the sharp fall in oil prices as a result of COVID-19, the economy is projected to contract by over 4% in 2020, plunging the country into its deepest recession since the 1980s. Government revenues could fall by more than 15 billion dollars this year, and the crisis will push an additional 5million Nigerians into poverty in 2020,” the statement read in part.
The World Bank noted that the facility was prepared jointly with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA).
This CPF proposes a collaborative approach of how resources across the entire Bank Group can best support the Government’s effort to achieve its goal to lift 100 million citizens out of poverty.
“The Country Partnership Framework leverages the World Bank Group to enable business growth that is inclusive and sustainable,” IFC Director for Southern Africa and Nigeria, Kevin Njiraini also said.
Business
World Bank-IMF Spring Meeting: FG Showcases Progress of Nigerian Economy To Boost Foreign Investment
Joel Ajayi
As the World Bank-IMF Spring Meetings intensify in Washington DC, the Federal Government has assured that it will continue to showcase the progress made so far in the Nigerian economy in order to attract more foreign investment into the country with a view to improving on the lives of Nigerians.
The Honourable Minister of Finance and Co-ordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Wale Edun, gave the assurance in Washington when he granted audience to some newsmen.
He stated that the bold, courageous and strategic reforms of the Nigerian economy embarked upon by the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led Administration aims not only at stabilising the nation’s economy in order to boost foreign investment into the country but also to provide opportunities for job creation and poverty reduction.
The Minister informed that the economy is moving in the right direction as the policies put in place by the present administration have started slowing down food inflation.
Edun explained that both he, the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Finance Mrs Lydia Shehu Jafiya, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Olayemi Cardoso, and other key government officials are in Washington DC to showcase the progress made so far in the Nigerian economy.
*The Economic Team of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is here to showcase the progress so far made of his bold, courageous and strategic reforms for the Nigerian economy in order to get it stabilised so as to attract foreign investment, create jobs for our people, reduce poverty and enhance our economic growth and development in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda of the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led Administration*. *We have all seen what has happened in terms of stabilising the exchange rate and inflation, which is now heading in the right direction*, the Minister said.
He added that *If you look closely at the numbers that came out especially from Monday, you will see that there is a slowing of the rate of increase of food inflation, things are moving in the right direction, government revenues are up, even oil revenues are up but not as much as we will like. But I assure you that with our resilience, we will get there*, he concluded.
The Minister is attending the World Bank-IMF Spring meeting in Washington DC alongside the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Mrs Lydia Shehu Jafiya, some Directors and other government officials.
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