Federal Govt gets AfDB’s $600m budget support loan
The African Development Bank’s (AfDB’s) board yesterday approved a $600 million loan for Nigeria to enable it fix its budget deficit and wriggle out of ongoing economic recession.
One of the bank’s senior officials, who broke the news, said the facility was the first tranche of the $1 billion budget support package expected from the African lender.
The second disbursement of $400 million is dependent upon the implementation of reforms, the bank’s Nigeria country director Ousmane Dore, said.
Dore said one of the main triggers for the release of the remaining tranche will be when the government spells out its plan for overcoming its current economic challenges.
“The economic recovery plan that the government is working on must be a package of comprehensive reforms, including even exchange rate policy, the consistency with regards to the monetary policy and structural reforms,” he said in a report.
If it meets the bank’s reform requirements, the tranche is expected to be approved by the board early next year.
Nigeria’s economy has been shrinking largely as a result of a plunge in oil prices since mid-2014. Attacks on energy facilities in the Niger Delta have also cut crude production by around a third since the start of the year.
The bank noted that oil generates around 70 per cent of Nigerian government revenues. The drop in prices has left Nigeria struggling to fund a record N6.06 trillion ($20 billion) 2016 budget that aims to stimulate growth by tripling capital expenditure.
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