LAGOS, NIGERIA (VOICE OF NAIJA)-The World Bank has announced that its technical advisory and financial support for Nigeria’s economic growth currently exceeds US$15 billion.
The bank also revealed investments in several sectors, such as reliable power and clean energy, girls’ education and women’s economic empowerment, climate adaptation and resilience, water and sanitation, and governance reforms.
This development follows the approval of the new $2.25 billion loan designed to enhance Nigeria’s economic stability and support vulnerable populations.
The package includes the $1.5 billion Nigeria Reforms for Economic Stabilization to Enable Transformation Development Policy Financing Program and the $750 million Nigeria Accelerating Resource Mobilization Reforms Program-for-Results.
The goal is to boost non-oil revenue generation and protect oil revenues, promoting fiscal sustainability and improving public service delivery.
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In a feature story on its website titled “Turning The Corner: Nigeria’s Ongoing Path of Economic Reforms,” the international lender stated that Nigeria has made significant progress in reforms. These reforms will require the right partnerships and support to achieve the long-term objective of a prosperous economy, job creation, and enhanced human development.
The bank noted that this support could set a regional example, demonstrating how macro-fiscal and governance reforms, combined with sustained investments in public goods, can drive growth and enhance citizens’ lives.
The report read, “Since May 2023, Nigeria has embarked on far-reaching and long-overdue reforms aimed at stabilizing the economy and setting the country towards the growth path.
“The Central Bank of Nigeria unified the multiple official exchange rates, fostered a market-determined official rate, cleared the verified foreign exchange backlog, and tightened monetary policy. As a result of the reforms, the supply of foreign exchange has improved, which is good for businesses, consumers, and economic growth.
It continued, “The previous, large gap between the official and parallel market exchange rates has also been eliminated, improving transparency and putting a stop to corrupt practices and “round-tripping.
“The government also sharply adjusted gasoline prices to begin to phase out the gasoline subsidy, which had cost the country over N8.6tn (US$22.2bn) from 2019 to 2022 with empirical evidence showing it did not benefit the poor but rather benefitted relatively better off consumers and resulted in large-scale black market and out-smuggling.”
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It further said, “As Nigeria pushes forward to attain economic prosperity, the country will need sustained efforts to deliver key public goods for its citizens.
“The World Bank is supporting Nigeria to achieve this with both technical advisory and financing, which stands at over US$15bn in sectors that include reliable power and clean energy, girls’ education and women’s economic empowerment, climate adaptation and resilience, water and sanitation, and governance reforms.”