Nigeria’s federal government has confirmed that it has concluded all procedures to receive around $2.2 billion single-digit interest credit facility from the World Bank.
In addition, another budget support facility from the African Development Bank is also in the offing.
Mr. Wale Edun, the Minister for Finance made this known during a press briefing at the end of Nigeria’s activities at the World Bank/International Monetary Fund Spring meeting in Washington DC, the United States on Saturday.
He said the dollar expected to serve as boost in the nation’s economy would help to improve the value of naira against the US dollars due to its availability.
It was also in the news that the government possibly have drawn some 42b from Nigeria’s foreign reserve sometime in March for the same objective of strengthening the naira value. This was due to an announced $2b dip in the national reserve during the period
Speaking on the sources of international funding to the Nigerian economy, Edun listed diaspora remittances, foreign portfolio investments, and facilities from the World Bank and other international development partners.
He stated, “We have qualified for the processing just this week to the Board of Directors of the World Bank of a total package of $2.25 billion of what you can call ‘the closest you can get to a free lunch’- virtually a grant. It’s for about 10- 20 years moratorium and about 1% interest.
“In addition, there is a similar budgetary support – low-interest funding from the African Development Bank (AfDB) and, clearly, there are ongoing discussions with foreign direct investors across many sectors.”
Edun also tapped issuing dollar-denominated securities specifically targeted at Nigerians in the diaspora and those with foreign-denominated savings in Nigeria as another measure to attract forex inflows into the country.
He further highlighted the efforts of the fiscal side of the economy in complimenting the recent monetary policy reforms by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
