COVID-19: FG To Secure $750m World Bank Loan

NOVEMBER 14, 2020

Minister of Finance, Budget, and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, has said that the Federal Government, is in the process of acquiring a 750 million dollar loan, from the world bank to help states mitigate the effects of COVID-19.

The loan, according to her, is to help stimulate the local economy and support vulnerable household consumption.

Ahmed revealed this at the inauguration of the Federal Steering Committees of the Nigeria COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus (N-CARES) program, in the nation’s capital.

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.

“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,” Ahmed stated.

Continuing, she said that the government has carefully selected the “members of the Federal Steering and Technical Committees because of the important role MDAs play in the recovery of the Nigerian economy as well as the fulfillment of lifting 100 million people out of poverty”.