IMF ranks Nigeria second worst country in the use of common wealth funds

The International Monetary Fund on Wednesday said Nigeria is the second worst country in the use of sovereign wealth funds in the World.

According to the Fiscal Monitor report released on Wednesday, Qatar was the only country worse than Nigeria on the index in the just released fiscal monitor report by the Bretton Wood institution.

The corporate governance and transparency scores of the sovereign wealth funds and the size of assets as a percentage of 2016 GDP of the countries considered was the basis used to compile the ranking.

The IMF further explained that it used data compiled by the Natural Resource Governance Institute and Worldwide Governance Indicators to arrive at its ranking.

The report read, “It is critical to develop a strong institutional framework to manage these resources—including good management of the financial assets kept in sovereign wealth funds—and to ensure that proceeds are appropriately spent.”

“This remains a significant challenge in many resource-rich countries that, on average, have weaker institutions and higher corruption

“The governance challenges of commodity-rich countries— that is, the management of public assets— call for ensuring a high degree of transparency and accountability in the exploration of such resources.

“Countries should develop frameworks that limit discretion, given the high risk of abuse, and allow for heavy scrutiny.”

Ghana came out tops of the 10 African countries considered in the report.