VenturesNow

World Bank grants Nigeria $800 million social fund as fuel subsidy removal looms

Published

1 year ago

April 5, 2023

Several Nigerian institutions have secured $800 million from the World Bank to expand their national social programs prior to the removal of petrol subsidies in June.

This year, Nigeria set aside $3.36 trillion naira ($7.3 billion) to cover subsidies until mid-2023, after which it has not made any provision for the expense, which exceeds its healthcare and education budgets.

Earlier this year, the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, stated that “if the government fails to take the appropriate measures, and they say they want to remove fuel subsidy, the situation will be worse than this, the masses will suffer. How can you remove the subsidy and you don’t have this product (petrol).”

Nigeria’s Finance Minister, Zainab Ahmed said the government was considering some palliatives to ease the pain of the subsidy removal, including cash transfers to the most vulnerable segment of the population, and mass transit buses for workers.

State enterprise, Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), spent 4.39 trillion Naira ($9.7 billion) on petrol subsidy last year. The figure is a marked increase from petrol subsidy payments which reportedly gulped over N1.15 trillion in 2021 alone.

Related Topics:Featured Fuel subsidy Nigeria World Bank

Click to comment

VenturesNow

Nigeria’s inflation hits 28-year high of 33.69% in April

Published

1 day ago

May 16, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Nigeria’s consumer inflation reached a 28-year high of 33.69% in April, up from 33.20% in March, according to statistics agency figures released on Wednesday.

President Bola Tinubu’s administration has slashed petrol and energy subsidies and devalued the local naira currency twice.

To manage pricing pressures, the central bank has hiked interest rates twice this year, including the highest hike in almost 17 years. The central bank governor has stated that rates will remain high for as long as necessary to reduce inflation. The bank will host another rate-setting meeting next week.

When compared to the previous year, the inflation rate in April 2024 was 11.47 percentage points more than in April 2023, when it stood at 22.22 percent. This implies that the headline inflation rate has increased dramatically during the last year.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, food and nonalcoholic beverages remained the largest contributor to inflation in April. Food inflation, which accounts for most of the inflation basket, rose to 40.53% yearly from 40.01% in March.

Price pressures have left millions of Nigerians facing the biggest cost-of-living crisis in decades, as they fight to satisfy their most basic necessities.

Tinubu has offered a 35% salary increase for state personnel to alleviate pressure on government workers. To assist disadvantaged households, his government has resumed a direct cash transfer program and provided at least 42,000 tons of grains such as corn and millet.

VenturesNow

Uganda discusses power line to South Sudan with China’s Sinohydro

Published

2 days ago

May 15, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

According to the president’s office, Uganda is in negotiations with Sinohydro Corporation Limited of China to build a $180 million power transmission line that would enable Uganda to export electricity to South Sudan, which is severely short on energy.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni received a group led by Vice President of Sinohydro Corporation Yang Yi Xin on Monday as part of the negotiations, according to a late-morning statement from Museveni’s office.

The project, according to the statement, will entail building a new substation and expanding two existing ones in addition to building a 138-kilometre high-voltage transmission line to provide power to South Sudan.

“We are very much willing to help develop this project with the required finance if needed,” Xin was quoted as telling the president.

The statement stated that Museveni endorsed Sinohydro’s proposal to carry out the project. Uganda and South Sudan inked a power sales deal in June of last year, enabling Uganda to sell electricity to South Sudan.

To enable Uganda to export electricity to South Sudan, the two nations inked a power sales deal in June of last year. The Chinese firm is completing a $1.5 billion, 600-megawatt hydropower project on the River Nile in Northern Uganda that is meant to be the source for electricity exports to South Sudan.