Nigeria senate approves govt's $2.7 billion loan requests

News24
23 Apr 2021, 05:13 GMT+10

Nigeria's senate has approved President Muhammadu Buhari's plan to borrow $2.7 billion from international institutions for infrastructure projects to help an economy hammered by an oil slump and the Covid-19 pandemic.

The lawmakers on Wednesday said in a report they approved external borrowing for $1.5 billion and €995 million from the World Bank, the Export-Import Bank of Brazil and Deutsche Bank.

Africa's biggest economy has recently witnessed fragile growth mainly due to low crude prices. The continent's top oil producer relies on crude sales for 90% of foreign exchange earnings.

READ | Nigeria approves R22 billion funding to repair key oil refinery

Finance minister Zainab Ahmed has said the government would need to pursue foreign loans to effectively finance critical infrastructure.

In March 2020, lawmakers also approved foreign borrowing worth $22.7 billion requested by Buhari's government. Of that $17 billion was to be provided by the Exim Bank of China.

Nigeria has been borrowing abroad to fund projects after a 2016 recession caused by low global oil prices affected government's spending plans.

The West African country again slipped into a recession in late 2020 after its gross domestic product contracted for the second consecutive quarter, but unexpectedly emerged from the slump in February 2021.

Source: News24

Watch latest videos

News RELEASES

Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Cincinnati Sun.

More Information

52 ℉

Light Rain in Cincinnati

International

Section

93 policemen killed in 2020, 41 shot to death

WASHINGTON D.C.: The FBI has reported that 93 police officers were killed in the line of duty in 2020.This was ...

Lithuania president voices support for Ukraine at Warsaw summit

WARSAW, Poland: A defiant Lithuanian president said earlier this week that his country would never accept Russia's 2014 annexation of ...

Columbus police still investigating pepper-spraying of reporters

Who is this person?Nearly a year after Columbus police officers pepper-sprayed journalists covering protests against police brutality, the Columbus Division ...