The World Bank has said that it now has more than $15 billion in funding and technical advice available to help Nigeria’s economy expand.
The international lender said this in a feature article titled “Turning The Corner: Nigeria’s Ongoing Path of Economic Reforms” on its website on Friday.
The bank revealed that it had invested in renewable energy and dependable power, women’s economic empowerment and girls’ education, resilience to climate change, water and sanitation, and governance reforms.
This occurred in the context of a $2.25 billion loan recently approved to aid Nigeria’s most disadvantaged citizens and enhance the country’s economic stability.
The $750 million Nigeria Accelerating Resource Mobilization Reforms Program-for-Results and the $1.5 billion Nigeria Reforms for Economic Stabilization to Enable Transformation Development Policy Financing Program comprise the combined package.
This initiative aims to protect and increase the nation’s non-oil revenue generation, which will support fiscal sustainability and allow for the provision of high-quality public services.
It stated that the country had made progress toward reforms, which would require all the right alliances and assistance to realize the long-term objective of a thriving economy that creates jobs and greatly advances human development.
The bank stated that the support could provide the region with an example of how governance and macro-fiscal reforms, when combined with ongoing investments in public goods, can boost growth and enhance the quality of life for inhabitants.
The report read,
According to the statement, there is no longer a significant difference between the official and parallel market currency rates, which enhances transparency and prevents dishonest behaviour like round-tripping.
According to the World Bank, in order to start the process of phase-outing the gasoline subsidy, which had cost the nation over N8.6tn (US$22.2bn) between 2019 and 2022, the government also made significant adjustments to gasoline prices.
Empirical evidence suggests that this program did not help the poor; rather, it benefited consumers who were relatively better off and led to extensive out-smuggling and the black market.
It further said:
TimesNow.com.ng reported that in the last decade, there are now major concerns since the external debt of low- and middle-income nations has increased and has outpaced economic growth.
The trend is observed in countries with extreme poverty, where the stock of debt has risen.
More low-income nations that qualify for aid from the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) are more vulnerable to debt, with more than 60% expected to be in high risk of financial crisis by 2023.
Source: TimesNow.com.ng
