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New $700 million loan approved by World Bank for Nigeria

Published

1 year ago

September 23, 2023

Amid its recent economic challenges, Nigeria has received approval from multilateral lender, World Bank for a fresh $700m loan to enhance adolescent girls’ learning and empowerment.

With the new loan, more money will be available for the Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment, a project that is already underway.

The Director-General of the Debt Management Office (DMO), Ms. Patience Oniha, in January, disclosed that the country’s total debt stock may hit N77 trillion by the end of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration on May 29, 2023

The World Bank, in a statement, said it had “approved additional financing of $700m for Nigeria to scale up the Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment programme whose goal is to improve secondary education opportunities among girls in targeted states.

“The additional financing will scale up project activities from the current seven states to eleven additional states and increase the targeted beneficiaries to include out-of-school girls, those who are married, and those who have disabilities.”

The statement added, “In the seven AGILE programme implementing states – Borno, Ekiti, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, and Plateau – the number of girls in secondary schools has increased from about 900,000 to over 1.6 million.

“Under the programme, over 5,000 classrooms have been renovated and over 250,000 eligible girls have received scholarships.

“The AGILE programme has supported the construction and rehabilitation of WASH facilities in secondary schools and the installation of computers and solar panels which make attending school more convenient and conducive for both girls and boys. Life skills, systems strengthening, and advocacy are other key aspects of the program which address social norms impeding girls’ education.

“Closing the gender disparities in economic empowerment by ensuring girls have access to education and skills is vital for Nigeria’s growth and economic prosperity,” said Shubham Chaudhuri, the World Bank’s country director for Nigeria

“Nigeria’s working population will soon be one of the youngest and largest around the world, which means that investing in adolescent girls is imperative when addressing overall economic prospects and growth.”

Despite the recent removal of fuel subsidies, Nigeria’s public finance is currently affected by dwindling oil prices and industrial-scale crude oil theft.

Related Topics:Featured Nigeria World Bank

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Nigeria’s Dangote Refinery exports first fuel to Cameroon

Published

1 day ago

December 12, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

The Dangote Refinery in Nigeria said on Wednesday that it had exported its first petrol to Cameroon, marking a significant milestone that may help stabilise gasoline costs throughout the region and open the door for regional energy integration.

When fully operational, Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote’s 650,000-barrel refinery in Lagos is intended to alter the trade of refined products in the Atlantic basin and compete with refineries in Europe.

According to a statement by Neptune Oil, an energy company based in Cameroon, both businesses were looking into new projects to create a dependable supply chain that would assist in stabilising fuel costs and opportunities throughout the area.

According to Neptune Oil, there were no middlemen involved in the petrol delivery deal.

It is anticipated that the refinery’s operations will spur growth in the upstream, midstream, and downstream sectors, increasing investments in cement manufacture, plastic and rubber production, chemical and pharmaceutical goods, and oil refining.

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Egypt’s November inflation drops to 25.5%, near 2-year low

Published

3 days ago

December 11, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

According to figures released Tuesday by statistics agency CAPMAS, Egypt’s annual urban consumer price inflation rate fell more than anticipated to 25.5% in November, the lowest level since December 2022.

Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which caused international investors to pull billions of dollars out of Egyptian treasury markets, inflation started to rise sharply in early 2022.

In September 2023, headline inflation reached a record high of 38.0%. It dropped to 26.5% by October 2024.

In a Reuters survey last month, 15 economists’ consensus prediction was for annual inflation to gradually decline to 26.4%.

According to CAPMAS statistics, headline inflation decreased from 1.1% in October to 0.5% in November every month.

Compared to October, when they fell 1.1%, food costs fell 2.8% over the month, making them 23.3% more than they were a year ago.

An increase in the money supply has been a major contributor to inflation. According to central bank data, Egypt’s M2 money supply increased by 29.54% in October compared to the same month last year.