The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Development Zainab Ahmed has said that Nigeria was not among 25 countries recently granted debt relief by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) because The country has no outstanding debt with the Fund.
Quoting the IMF, she said the relief was for the “poorest and most vulnerable” IMF members.
And “since Nigeria is not indebted to the IMF, there is no outstanding debt obligation to be forgiven,” Ahmed said on her official Twitter page.
She said Nigeria had applied for new financing at the IMF and the country’s application “is under consideration and receiving attention.”
Ahmed, in a tweet on Thursday, said, “It is true Nigeria is not a beneficiary of recent IMF debt relief for 25 countries. As stated in IMF Executive Board statement, the relief ‘provides grants to our poorest and most vulnerable members to cover their IMF debt obligations for an initial phase over the next six months’.
“Since Nigeria is not indebted to the IMF, there is no outstanding debt obligation to be forgiven. Nigeria’s application for new IMF financing is under consideration and receiving attention.”
According to the minister, the new application is for financing under the Rapid Financing Initiative.
“Nigeria is entitled to access up to 100 per cent of its quota under the Rapid Financing Initiative. Our current financial position at the IMF is public information on the International Monetary Fund website,” she added.
The IMF had on Monday announced the approval of immediate debt service relief to 25 of the IMF’s member countries under the IMF’s revamped Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust as part of its response to help address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The beneficiary countries were Afghanistan, Benin, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, D.R., The Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Nepal, Niger, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Tajikistan, Togo, and Yemen.
