The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udo Udoma, on Wednesday said the size of the 2017 budget that would be passed by the National Assembly would determine the size of the loan the Federal Government would be seeking from the World Bank.
The minister, who stated this while answering questions from State House correspondents at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, was reacting to a story that the World Bank had agreed to give Nigeria a $2.5bn loan.
According to the story, one of the conditions for the release of the initial tranche of $1.5bn is a reform of Nigeria’s forex market.
The World Bank loan is to be partly used to finance the 2017 budget.
However, when asked to confirm how much the country would be asking for from the World Bank, Udoma said, “The figure will depend on the budget to be approved by the National Assembly.”
He admitted that cash constraints had made it difficult to release funds for capital projects.
The minister said, “Because of the funding constraints, the budget has a deficit. I travelled with the Minister of Finance and the CBN governor to market our Eurobond.
“As you can see, the Eurobond was oversubscribed by over eighth times; so, the funds are coming in; there is more stability in the Niger-Delta, so more money is coming in.”
