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Nigerian govt says the country will generate 6,000MW of electricity before end of 2024

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The Nigerian government has revealed that the country will produce 6,000 megawatts of power before the end of this year, although it currently produces between 4,000 and 4,500 MW of electricity annually for a population of roughly 200 million.

In his ministerial speech in Abuja, Minister of Power Adebayo Adelabu highlighted the accomplishments of his ministry since President Bola Tinubu took office on May 29, 2023. Adelabu stated that on May 3, 2024, the nation’s power generation reached 5,000MW for the first time in three years.

Based on the sector’s advancements over the past year, Adelabu pledged that Nigeria would reach 6,000MW of electricity output by year’s end.

“On generation capacity, let me say that 5,000MW of power was achieved in May 2024 for the first time in three years. Precisely on May 3, 2024, we generated, transmitted and distributed 5,003.45MW of power.

“We all know where we were before now. But we rose to the occasion and changed the situation for the better, and our target is to achieve 6,000MW before the end of this year, which will be the first time in the history of Nigeria, and it will happen,” the minister stated.

He mentioned that there have been several infrastructure improvements in the past year and mentioned that one of the programs that made sure Nigeria’s electricity assets were improved was the Presidential Electricity Initiative, which is still in place.

“In November 2023, President Tinubu and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz witnessed the signing of an accelerated performance agreement aimed at expediting the implementation of the Presidential Power Initiative to improve electricity supply in Nigeria.

“The implementation of the pilot phase has resulted in infrastructure improvement which includes additional grid evacuation capacity by 2,230MW and an additional 183MW to be commissioned by the end of June 2024, Adelabu stated.

He stated that Phase 1 contracts for the Presidential Power Initiative were being finalized by the administration.

“There is also the rehabilitation of 15 brownfield substations with an expected contract date of August 2024. There is the construction of 22 green field substations with an expected contract date of October 2024,” he said.

Regarding metering, Adelabu stated that to increase the sector’s liquidity and reduce projected billing, the presidential metering effort was set to supply two million meters annually for the following five years.

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IMF mission concludes 4th loan program assessment in Egypt

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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

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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.

 

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