Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, has said that the World Bank has proposed the sum of 1.5 billion dollars to states as part of economic stimulus to cushion the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Speaking after the first-ever virtual National Economic Council (NEC) meeting and the fourth for the year, presided over by Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, Mrs Ahmed stated:
The World Bank maintains that the impact of the COVID-19 on Nigeria will lead to severe amplified human and economic cost, which will move the country into a recession.
The World Bank planned a proposed package for immediate fiscal relief for the FG.
This will also involve policy-based policy budget support for the Federal Government, focusing on measures to maintain macro-financial stability and create fiscal space for proposed stimulus.
The World Bank package has also got a proposal of 1.5billion dollars for the states and this package will be dedicated to the states and it will be a programme for results which the states are already used to implementing.
The immediate fiscal relief for the states, according to the Minister, will include the acceleration of an existing programme to enable disbursement of the fund and that the 1.5 billion dollars plan would be disbursed to the states by the end of September.
She said:
We are looking at an average of between N150billion to N200billion based on the plan to the 36 states.
These are states that have already made some particular commitments and achievements so that they will be able to get immediate disbursements of parts of these funds.
Following a presentation to the council, the Minister revealed the structures that the Federal Government was looking at putting in place to tackle the challenges of COVID-19.
She further stated that Nigeria is facing a challenging time as well as a significant economic downturn that has never been witnessed in the history of the country, stressing that the collapse in oil prices, following the outbreak of COVID-19, had brought about the economic challenge.