FG to borrow $750 million from World Bank to stimulate local economy

MINISTER of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, has said the federal government is planning to borrow $750 million from the World Bank.

Zainab disclosed this in Abuja on Friday at the inauguration ceremony of the Federal Steering Committees of the Nigeria COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus (N-CARES).

The minister noted that the loan, which is being processed on behalf of the states of the federation is to stimulate the local economy provide cushion against the impact of Covid-19 for vulnerable households.

Ahmed added that neglecting these two aspects of our national life may lead to civil unrest in the country as many businesses and incomes have been negatively affected by the Covid-19.

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.”

The Finance Minister noted that “the federal government has created several windows of interventions as captured in the Economic Sustainability Plan (ESP) to, among other things, “respond robustly and appropriately to the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, identify fiscal measures to enhance oil and non-oil government revenues and reduce non-essential spending”.

Speaking on the need for proper implementation, Ahmed stated that “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”.

According to her, the government has carefully selected the “members of the Federal Steering and Technical Committees because of the important role your 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”