Nigeria to seek World Bank loan of at least $1 Billion – Finance Minister

Nigeria wants to borrow at least $1 billion from the World Bank, Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun said on Tuesday during an interview on CNBC.

Adeosun also said that Nigeria hoped to sign in the next few months a loan worth $1.3 billion from China’s Export-Import Bank (Exim) to fund railway projects in the West African nation, explaining that the country will not apply for an IMF, International Monetary Fund loan as it is pursuing its own economic reform plan.

Prior to this, talks were rife of about an IMF loan

“For us the IMF is really a lender of last resort when you have balance of payments problem. Nigeria doesn’t have balance of payments problems per se, it has a fiscal problem,” she said during the interview.

“We are already doing as much reform as any IMF programme would impose on Nigeria,” she said. “Nigerians want to take responsibility for their future. We must have our home-grown, home-designed programme of reform.

“Non-oil revenue is improving very steadily. All the measures we have put in place are beginning to yield fruits,” she said, without giving numbers. “Oil production is back up, we are very grateful for that, but we should be careful for getting excited about that.”