-Deborah Akinyosoye
The federal government is expected to receive a new loan from the World Bank, totalling $1.5 billion.
According to the Washington-based financial institution’s project list, the loan is set to be approved on September 26.
The $1.5 billion will be distributed through three major development projects aimed at improving Nigeria’s economic stability and resource mobilisation capacity.
The projects, targeting crucial sectors such as healthcare, agriculture, and infrastructure, are pivotal for the country’s sustainable development and economic stability.
A breakdown of the projects showed the World Bank will approve $500 million for the first project tagged ‘Nigeria: Primary Healthcare Provision Strengthening Programme’.
The World Bank did not disclose the cost of the first project.
Another $500 million will be approved for the ‘Nigeria Human Capital Opportunities for Prosperity and Equity (HOPE) – Governance’ project, which has a project cost of $700 million.
The third project, ‘Sustainable Power and Irrigation for Nigeria,’ will also receive $500 million, but has a project cost of $10.75 billion.
It was also observed that two loan requests, one on the ‘Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project – Scale Up,’ will receive $500 million by December 16, and the other on ‘Solutions for the Internally Displaced and Host Communities Project,’ slated for an approval date of April 8, 2025, will receive N300 million.
Nigeria’s external debt to the international lender keeps growing.
In May, the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) said the federal government has secured a $500 million loan from the World Bank to boost electricity distribution in the country.
Prior to this, the federal government had received $750 million from the World Bank for humanitarian and social reforms and $1.5 billion for its economic stabilisation plan.
Also, on June 3, Wale Edun, minister of finance and coordinating minister of the economy, said the World Bank board of directors would consider a loan of $2.25 billion for Nigeria