President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, on Thursday, read President Muhammadu Buhari’s letter requesting for Senate approval for fresh external loans put at $5.513billion to boost the economy against COVID 19.
The loan, Buhari said was to enable the federal government fund the revised 2020 budget which revenue sources have been dimmed by the impact of the COVID 19 pandemic.
President Muhammadu Buhari in the letter to the legislature detailed the amount and international sources from which the government of Nigeria hoped to access the money and meet the revised budgetary obligation to the citizens.
The sources for the loans are the International Monetary Fund ( IMF) $3.4bn, World Bank $1.4bn, Africa Development Bank $500million, Islamic Development Bank $113m etc.
The President added in the request that the loans being urgently sought for, are targeted at critical areas of funding of the 2020 budget, execution of critical projects slated for 2020 fiscal year and projects to support the state governments.
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Also to be sourced is: Islamic Bank USD600million to fund support of Nigeria’s response to challenges posed by COVID-19, AfDB USD 125million for strengthening of healthcare systems to improve response to COVID 19 and another USD2million to finance smallholder farmers to mitigate food security impact of COVID 19.
Identifying the priority areas the loans would be deployed Buhari in the letter said “financing is also required for some priority projects of the federal government to address the COVID 19 Pandemic and improved Nigeria’s food we security.
Part of the loan for which the President sought approval was the world Bank loans being negotiated between Nigeria government and the bank to fund state fiscal transparency accountability and sustainability programme to provide fiscal support to the state.
The other being COVID 19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus programme to support state-level effects to protect livelihood, ensure food security and stimulate economic activities.
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