Nigeria is yet to reach a conclusion with the World Bank over a $1.5 billion loan it approached the bank since last year, Zainab Ahmed, minister of finance, budget and national planning said.
The World Bank loan which is supposed to provide some comfort to Africa’s biggest economy after being hard-hit by the fall-out of the pandemic, has been delayed over disagreement to reach certain foreign exchange reforms approved by the bank, the minister said.
“Nigeria has yet to conclude a $1.5 billion loan agreement with the World Bank because of disagreements on exchange rate reforms. The World Bank has said Nigeria needs to strengthen reforms to its naira currency before it can approve the loan,” Reuters quoted the minister as saying, Thursday to reporters.
At the heat of the pandemic last year that whipped out about half of Nigeria’s, the government of Africa’s most populous nation approached the World Bank for the loan to bolster external reserves; but in exchange the bank requested Nigeria take certain reforms.
One of such reforms was the unification of the spread between what the naira trades against the dollars across multiple windows.
On two occasions, Africa’s biggest economy devalued the currency, moving the rate N379/$ yet the naira trades at nearly 15 percent discount against the dollar.
The World Bank in a meeting with selected state governors late last year, said “Nigeria needs to do more to get the loan”.
According to the minister who said she felt Nigeria had met the World Bank’s requirements, the bank “had asked for the gap in the naira’s exchange rate on the over-the-counter spot market and on the black market to be narrowed further”.
Meanwhile, she noted that Nigeria will draw up a supplementary budget in March to cover the cost of COVID-19 vaccinations, which was hitherto not made in the N13.6 trillion 2021 budget and finance bill adopted in December.
The government is planning to vaccinate 40 percent of Nigeria’s 200 million people this year and another 30 percent in 2022.
“There will be a supplementary budget, the first one will be in March relating to the COVID-19 pandemic. We are working with health authorities on a plan to be approved by the president and then lawmakers.
About 4 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine is expected to land in Nigeria next week in the first tranche of COVAX facility consignment to the country, and according to Ahmed funds are already to the health authority to start operation in the first batch of vaccines.
Ahmed who spoke after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, said Nigeria had received a $600 million loan from the Africa Development Bank.
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