The World Bank has agreed to give
Nigeria a $3 billion loan for the expansion of the transmission and
distribution facilities of the power sector.
Zainab Ahmed, the minister of
finance, made this known on Sunday while addressing journalists on the activities of Nigeria at the annual meetings of the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Group.
“This financing will cover the
gap between the current tariff and the actual cost of generating electricity,”
she said.
“It will also enhance our ability
to pay previous obligations in the sector that has crystallised so that
investors in the sector can go on with expanding investments in the sector.”
Speaking further, Ahmed said the
loan will be released in four tranches of $750 million each and there is room
for the loan to be expanded to $4 billion.
“Some portion of the loan will be
for the transmission network and if we are able to expand to $4 billion then
the extra $1 billion will be for the distribution network.”
“The distribution sector will be
at the backend when the other reforms have been carried out.
“It will be a loan to the
distribution companies because they are owned by the private sector.”
According to the minister, a team
from Nigeria will visit the World Bank in April 2020 to get approval for the
release of the first tranche of the loan.
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com