Zainab Ahmed, the
minister of finance, budget and national planning, announced the fiscal
stimulus measures to be carried out by the federal government in response to
COVID-19 pandemic.
Briefing journalists
in Abuja on Monday, Ahmed said the measures would be in addition to the
interventions already announced by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Here are nine
measures listed by the finance minister:
ENGAGE 774,000
NIGERIANS
According to the
minister, President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the engagement of 774, 000
Nigerians on special public works programme implemented by the National
Directorate of Employment (NDE).
This, she said,
would translate to 1,000 people from the 774 local governments in the country.
“Mr President has
now approved that this programme is extended to all 36 states and the FCT from
October 2020 to December 2020. The selected timeframe is to ensure that the
programme is implemented after the planting season is over, and it will result
in the employment of about 774,000 Nigerians (that is, 1,000 people per each
local government). N60 billion in allowances and operational costs have been
earmarked from the COVID-19 crisis intervention fund for this initiative,” she
said.
SHARE RICE SEIZED BY
CUSTOMS
To solve the
imminent risk posed to food security, she said the president has “approved
grains from strategic grain reserves. The Nigerian Customs had in its custody a
lot of rice that have been seized. There are 150 trucks of rice that are now
handed over to the humanitarian ministry for distribution to the states across
the federation”.
REQUEST TO GET $82
MILLION FOR NCDC FROM WORLD BANK
According to the
minister, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control has access to a regional
disease surveillance system (REDISSE) facility which is worth $90 million.
The agency is said
to have drawn $8 million from the facility and there is already a request to
draw the remaining $82 million.
“The government has
also requested for additional financing in the sum of $100 million from the
REDISSE project to meet COVID-19 emergency needs in all the 36 States and the
FCT, through the NCDC and federal ministry of health. This will enable us to
expand the capacity of intensive care units (‘ICUs’), enhance laboratory
capacity, accelerate the procurement of test kits, strengthen surveillance
mechanisms as well as improve information management.”
REQUEST $6.9 BILLION
FROM IMF, WORLD BANK AND AFDB
Ahmed said the
federal government has requested for a total of $6.9 billion from the
International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank Group and African Development
Bank (AfDB).
Giving a breakdown,
$3.4 billion has been requested from the IMF COVID-19 rapid credit facility.
The money is part of Nigeria’s holdings with the Bretton Wood institutions and
would not be tied to any conditionalities
A $2.5 billion
request has been submitted to the World Bank and $1 billion request submitted
to the African Development Bank.
INCREASE HAZARD
ALLOWANCE OF FEDERAL HEALTH WORKERS
Health workers who
are in the employ of the federal civil service would see their hazard
allowances “enhanced”
“The federal
government enjoins the affected states to take similar measures,” the finance
minister said.
N500 BILLION
COVID-19 INTERVENTION FUND
President Muhammadu
Buhari, she said, has approved the establishment of a N500 billion COVID-19
intervention fund to upgrade medical facilities that have been identified by
the presidential task force on COVID-19.
The fund would also
be used to finance the creation of a special public works programme and fund
any additional interventions that may be approved.
SUSPEND LOAN
REPAYMENTS WHEN FAAC ALLOCATIONS REACH A CERTAIN THRESHOLD
In her address, the
finance minister said: “Mr President has also approved that the federal
ministry of finance, budget and national planning should engage with the CBN to
agree on a debt and interest moratorium for states on federal government and
CBN-funded loans, in order to create fiscal space for the states given the
projected shortfalls in FAAC allocations.
“Accordingly, once
monthly average FAAC receipts fall below a specific threshold, interest and
capital payments by states shall be suspended till monthly average FAAC
receipts exceed the threshold. The details of this moratorium will be
expeditiously worked out with a view to submitting the final proposals for Mr
President’s guidance and final approvals.”
REDUCE 2020 BUDGET
SIZE, PROJECTIONS
The benchmark oil
price for 2020 appropriation act has been cut to $30/barrel from $57 and oil
production to 1.7 million barrels per day.
“We have similarly
had to adjust downwards our non-oil revenue projections including various tax
and customs receipts, as well as proceeds of privatisation exercises,” Ahmed
said.
ENGAGE WITH
CORPORATES TO KNOW WHAT THEY WANT THE MOST
Responding to questions
about the interventions made available for corporates, the minister said the
2020 finance act has catered for micro, small and medium scale enterprises by
offering them tax exemptions.
She said the
government will engage other corporates to know what they want the most.
“We don’t want to go
and say that we are reducing taxes for companies. Some of the companies, for
example, the pharmaceutical industry, what they would want is fast track
processes to bring in materials to produce more drugs.
“We’ll be giving
them import duty waivers, we’ll be giving them support to air freight their
cargo because supply chains are broken across the world, there is a need to
fast track import of materials that are needed to produce drugs within the
country so we have to have those engagements to be more specific.”
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