Buhari's govt seeks another N285b loan from World Bank

The federal government is in the process of acquiring a $750million loan, from the World Bank to help boost the Nigerian economy.

Based on current dollar rates, the total sum of the money in naira is N285, 375, 000 (two hundred eighty-five billion three hundred seventy-five million three hundred eighty).

This loan according to the minister of finance, Zainab Ahmed, will stimulate the local economy and support vulnerable household consumption.

She disclosed this at an event of the Nigeria COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus (N-CARES) programme in Abuja.

The minister 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.

Her words:

“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.”In a related development, the federal government is seeking the National Assembly’s approval to access $1.2 billion agricultural loans from Brazil.

This was disclosed by Ahmed when she appeared to defend the ministry’s 2021 budget before the House of Representatives’ committee on finance on Tuesday, November 3.

According to her, the federal government had forwarded the loan request to the National Assembly which is aimed at addressing issues in the agriculture value chain as Nigeria moves to make it another source of revenue.

She said the government was planning to acquire 100,000 hectares of land in each of the 36 states for food production.

Meanwhile, the minister has revealed that the total public debts of Nigeria would hit N38trillion by December 2021.

The minister disclosed this on Tuesday, November 3 in her presentation to the Senate committee on local and foreign debts.

According to her, the total public debt stock comprising the external and home debts of the federal and state governments and the Federal Capital Territory stood at N31.01trn (USD85.90 billion) as of June 30, 2020.