$1.5bn Loan: World Bank To Decide On Federal Government’s Request By July

The World Bank has promised to take a final decision by late July on a $1.5 billion loan to support Nigeria as it fights the novel COVID-19

The bank’s country director, Shubham Chaudhuri, who made this known said that the financial institute is working on packages that could provide more than $3 billion to Africa’s largest economy.

“We were hoping to present to our board by late July or the latest early August because the government will need the finance. The immediate challenge is a fiscal one: How does the government marshal the fiscal resources to keep basic government functions going?”

Naija News recalls that Nigeria’s Finance Minister, Zainab Ahmed had projected the country’s economy to shrink as much as 8.9% in 2020.  The World Bank also expects Nigeria’s economy to shrink by between 3.2% and 8% in 2020, and government oil revenues could fall by a third or possibly more than half, said Chaudhuri.