By Onu Okorie
Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy Dr Wale Edun, has said that Nigeria is expecting a fresh $2.2 billion loan from the World Bank and another budget support facility from the African Development Bank. Edun said this at the end of his meeting at the World Bank/International Monetary Fund Spring meeting in Washington DC, the United States.
He said the facilities would see Nigeria’s foreign reserves swelling by an appreciable volume which may spur the appetite of foreign investors. Edun said that the World Bank and other international development partners had assured Nigeria that the fresh $2.25b World Bank loan would be coming shortly.
“We have qualified for the processing just this week to the Board of Directors of the World bank of a total package of $2.25 billion of what you can call ‘the closest you can get to a free lunch’- virtually a grant. It’s for a 10- 20 years moratorium and about 1% interest. “In addition, there is a similar budgetary support – low-interest funding from the African Development Bank (AfDB) and, clearly, there are ongoing discussions with foreign direct investors across many sectors.”
