VenturesNow

Nigeria set to review housing laws

Published

12 months ago

November 27, 2023

Nigeria’s Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Ahmed Dangiwa, has set up a housing reform team of experts to rework the housing sector framework for affordable homes for Nigerians.

At the ministry’s Abuja headquarters, the minister disclosed this information to a group from the Housing Development Advocacy Network which was headed by Mr. Ugochukwu Obiora Chime.

The minister announced that the reform team would discuss essential changes to legislation, including the Federal Housing Authority Act of 1973, the Land Use Act of 1978, the National Housing Fund Act of 1992, and the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria Establishment Act of 1993.

He clarified that the reform team, which would include officials from HDAN, organisations, trade associations, and academic institutions, would carefully examine pertinent legislations in order to create a strong framework for the housing sector’s transformation.

With an emphasis on improving efficiency, transparency, and accountability, the team’s duties will include organising all prior reform blueprints, white papers for the agencies, and identifying areas in need of reform.

Regarding housing statistics, he revealed that a taskforce inside the ministry had been established and was collaborating with the National Population Commission to create survey instruments that would tackle housing-related inquiries in the forthcoming population and housing census.

“We invited and met with the Presidential Technical Committee on Land Reforms; we now have access to the comprehensive work they have done over the past 14 years on Land Reforms in our country. Immediately after the meeting, we set up an Internal Ministerial Committee to review and recommend for inclusion in our land reforms strategy, relevant parts of their recommendations will be the establishment of the National Land Commission to spell out the guidelines and regulations for operationalising the Land Use Act, 1978,” he stated.

Nigeria requires at least 28 million housing units in order to appropriately house its population, according to estimates of the country’s housing gap as of 2023.

To make up the difference, housing units worth an estimated N21 trillion will have to be provided. This will involve building enough houses to accommodate the entire population.

VenturesNow

IMF mission concludes 4th loan program assessment in Egypt

Published

1 day ago

November 22, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Following the completion of a recent visit to Egypt, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has announced that its mission had achieved significant strides in policy talks aimed at concluding the fourth review of the IMF loan program.

The review is the fourth in Egypt’s most recent 46-month IMF loan program, which was authorised in 2022 and increased to $8 billion this year following an economic crisis characterised by high inflation and chronic foreign exchange shortages. It may unleash more than $1.2 billion in financing.

Along with reaffirming its commitment to maintain a flexible exchange rate system, the IMF stated that Egypt “has implemented key reforms to preserve macroeconomic stability,” including the unification of the currency rate that facilitated imports.

Earlier on Wednesday, Egypt’s Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said Cairo has asked the IMF to modify the targets for the programme not only for this year, but for its full duration, he added without giving more details.

“Discussions will continue over the coming days to finalize agreement on the remaining policies and reforms that could support the completion of the fourth review,” the IMF added in its statement.

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Kenya seeks $750m from World Bank, obtains $200m from AfDB— Official

Published

3 days ago

November 20, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

The head of debt management for the finance ministry told Reuters that Kenya had obtained a $200 million loan from the African Development Bank (AfDB) and was negotiating a fresh $750 million loan with the World Bank.

After being forced to abandon proposed tax rises costing more than 346 billion shillings ($2.68 billion) in June due to fatal demonstrations, the East African nation’s administration, which has been grappling with significant debt, has been frantically seeking fresh funding.

The Finance Ministry’s public debt management office director general, Raphael Owino, told Reuters that the IMF’s October clearance of the seventh and eighth reviews, which opened the door for a $606 million loan tranche, had aided the ministry’s talks for more loans.

“The World Bank is coming on board, riding on the back of IMF receipts,” Owino said. “The AfDB is already on board.”

The discussions for more assistance, which came under the World Bank’s “Development Policy Operations” (DPO) with the government, were confirmed by a representative at the organization’s Kenya office.

“The amount of the current (loan) is yet to be determined. The amount will also depend on the implementation of the policy reforms agreed upon,” the spokesperson told Reuters, adding that past DPO loans averaged about $750 million.

In May, the World Bank approved the latest round of DPO loans, totalling $1.2 billion.

According to a statement made last month by Finance Minister John Mbadi, Kenya has set a foreign borrowing goal of 168 billion shillings for the fiscal year ending in June 2025.