FG Plans To Take $1Billion Loan From World Bank For Development Of Power Sector

The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed has disclosed that the federal has commenced discussion with the World Bank with a view of taking a $1 billion loan for the development of the power sector.

The Minister said this at the press briefing marking the end of the 2019 Spring Meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, IMF, in Washington DC, USA, yesterday.

Zainab Ahmed revealed that her delegation held discussions with the World Bank with a view to taking a $1 billion loan for the power sector. She said:

“We also met with the World Bank Power Sector team and discussed the way forward on the Proposed $1 billion Nigeria Performance Based Loan (PBL). We agreed to bring relevant MDAs together to ensure that we advance this in a timely manner.

“We will also discuss the Country Portfolio Performance of Nigeria which currently stands at $9.8 billion with the Nigerian Country team at the World Bank and how we could manage the portfolio for optimum results.”

Mrs. Ahmed added, “At the IMFC meetings, the Managing Director requested for a mandate to pursue some negotiations with Governors for temporary financing options for ensuring that the Fund remains adequately resourced by maintaining the current resource envelope of the Fund through borrowed resources. This arose partly due to the delay in completing the 15th general review of quotas.

“While Governors endorsed this position, we called for an ambitious timetable for the 16th General Review of quota which should result in increased quota shares for dynamic economies in line with their relative positions in the world economy, while protecting the voice and representation of the poorest members.”

She called for the normalization of trade relations among the contending parties and called for concerted efforts to support multilateralism and avoid protectionist sentiments.