Nigeria targets $2bln World Bank loan

Africa’s most populous nation is eying a $2 billion World Bank loan to help address pressing challenges and back up hard currency reserves, the government said.

The country qualifies for the financing and has the support of other regional banks such as the African Development Bank, Nigerian finance minister Wale Edun said on the sidelines of the IMF-WB Spring meetings in Washington last week.

Nigeria, which struggles to lift its devaluated currency, is also planning diaspora bonds to draw more foreign exchange reserves.

Nigeria’s forex reserves had fallen from $34.45 billion on March 18 to $32.29 billion on April 15.

Nigeria has lost its status as the first African economy to Egypt and has dropped in ranking to the third position behind Egypt and South Africa.

Nigeria’s GDP fell to 253 billion dollars, while Egypt- which topped African economies in 2023- reported a $348 billion GDP, outperformed by South Africa with $373 billion.

Two devaluations left Nigeria’s Naira currency 50% weaker against the greenback than what it was prior to President Bola Tinubu’s election.