The world bank has been reported to have approved the sum of $2.1 billion loan for as many as seven projects in Nigeria.
The Wold Bank
It has been reported that the World Bank has announced the approval of $2.1bn loan for seven projects to be executed in Nigeria.
According to Punch Metro, a statement issued in Abuja on Thursday
said the loans were approved in Washington on Wednesday and are for
seven projects to support Nigeria’s investment in nutrition, access to
electricity, states’ fiscal transparency, polio eradication, women’s
economic empowerment, public finance and national statistics and
reducing vulnerability to soil erosion.
World Bank Country Director for Nigeria, Rachid Benmessaoud, was quoted to have said,
“The Federal Government of Nigeria’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan
identifies human capital investment, restoring growth, and building a
competitive economy as its key pillars.
The projects approved by the International Development Association,
the bank’s low-interest arm, are expected to support Nigeria’s economic
growth plan.
Growth rates in Nigeria have bounced back since the third quarter
of 2016, when a recession, its first in 25 years, bottomed out. Growth
returned largely due to higher oil prices, with the country relying on
crude sales for much of its revenue.
However, growth slowed again in the first quarter of 2018, as the country’s non-oil sector struggled.
The government expects growth to rise to a pre-recession level of 7 percent by 2020.
The World Bank said more than half of the loans would be used to
fund power and climate change projects and boost fiscal transparency. It
also approved a $7 million grant for nutrition.
Nigeria privatised most of its power sector in 2013 but retained
control of its dilapidated monopoly transmission grid, often blamed for
hobbling growth.
The country intends to raise $2.8 billion of debt offshore to help
part-finance its 2018 budget and plans to explore all options to lower
costs, the debt office head told Reuters.
The debt office said it could tap capital markets or concessionary
loans from the World Bank after the 2018 budget had been approved.
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