FG seeks $750m loan from World Bank to mitigate effect of COVID-19

By our reporter| Nigeria is on the verge of acquiring a 750 million dollar loan from the world bank to help states, Nigeria minister of finance, Zainab Ahmed said on Friday.

According to her, the loan is part of efforts to mitigate the effect of the novel coronavirus in the country as the loan is to stimulate the local economy and support vulnerable household consumption.

The minister who made the disclosure at the inauguration of the Federal Steering Committees of the Nigeria COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus (N-CARES) program, in Abuja, noted that the federal government has created windows of intervention, as captured in the economic sustainability plan inaugurated by President Muhammadu Buhari, in March 2020.

She stressed that in going to borrow the money the federal government is considering the cause and consequences of civil unrest and COVID-19 in the country.

She said, “The consequences will be too high if we ignore the root cause of rising civil unrest in our country. We must, therefore, fashion out ways of ensuring that post-Covid-19 is not injurious to the Nigerian people and the economy.”

According to her, in a bid to ensure that the implementation of the N-CARES is in line with the federal government priorities as outlined in the ESP, the Federal Steering Committee made up of ministers and permanent secretaries as well as a Technical Committee, made up of directors of key ministries, department, and agencies (MDAs) has to be in place.

She stated that the government has carefully selected the “members of the Federal Steering and Technical Committees because of the important role MDAs play in the recovery of the Nigerian economy as well as the fulfillment of lifting 100 million people out of poverty”.

On the expediency of the inauguration of the committee, the Finance Minister said, “the inauguration of the committees “is expedient given the nature of this emergency intervention; Nigeria as the biggest economy in Africa cannot afford to remain in recession; the survival of over 200 million population is germane to all we do and we must address the concerns of the majority of our populace”.