Zainab Ahmed, minister of finance, budget and national planning, says the federal government is considering tapping into the newly created fund by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Ahmed said this on the sidelines at the ongoing IMF- World Bank meetings on Wednesday in Washington.
The finance minister also said the federal government has been engaging financial institutions to look into the country’s portfolio debt to restructure and further stretch the debt service period to give more fiscal relief.
“It is a fact that Nigeria’s debt has increased over the last three to four years, and this increase in debt was occasioned by the different kind of exogenous shocks that the country faced, which is not unique to Nigeria,” she said.
“The last drawing we had from the IMF is the second round of special drawing rights (SDRs) that was provided for all the member countries. The IMF recently offered a food security package that countries can draw, and it is equivalent to about 50 percent of their SDRs.
“We have not taken a decision to draw on that. We have to examine the requirements, terms and conditions, to see if it will be safe for us to draw because we don’t want to be drawn into an IMF programme.
“If they work for us, we will now decide to take it because the funds can certainly be useful in terms of adding to our reserves and coping with the challenges the country is facing.”
debt distress and should urgently consider improving their liquidity buffers, including by requesting access to precautionary instruments from the Fund.
“Countries should also aim to minimise the impact of future financial turmoil through a combination of preemptive macroprudential and capital flow measures, where appropriate, in line with IMF’s Integrated Policy Framework,” he said.
“There are clouds on the horizon, but progress on climate policies, debt resolution, and other targeted global issues will demonstrate that strengthened cooperation can achieve progress for all and help to overcome geoeconomic fragmentation.”
