Nigeria’s Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun, says that the Nigerian Government has no plan to approach the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to borrow from the estimated $50bn, which the IMF had earlier announced that it plans to use and support struggling economies in Africa.
Mr. Edun told journalists at the Spring Meetings of the World Bank/IMF in Washington DC, United States on Thursday that “Nigeria has no plan at the moment to approach the IMF for any other such burden.”
Although the Nigerian minister said that African nations would need “extra help” at this moment, but he noted that the Middle East crisis is one that affects African countries and economies disproportionately, stressing that while nations in this region “are not creators in any way of this situation, they stand to command greater pressure than perhaps any other region.”
“This is in terms of the threat to macroeconomic stability, growth trajectories, and their ability to create jobs and reduce poverty in their countries,” Edun added,
It will be recalled that the Managing Director, IMF, Kristalina Georgieva, had advised countries facing economic pressures to act swiftly in seeking financial support when necessary, warning that delays could worsen economic conditions.
“My advice is that when you need help financially, don’t hesitate to move fast, because the sooner we act, the more we protect the economy,” she said.
Georgieva disclosed that the IMF was committed to financially supporting member countries through the current challenges and that about $20bn to $50bn was being planned by the IMF for this exercise.
“We anticipate financial demand for IMF support to range between $20bn and $50bn, which represents augmentation of some existing problems and prospective demands from new problems from at least a dozen countries, a number of them in Sub-Saharan Africa,” local media reports quoted Georgieva as saying.
GIK/APA