- As Adeosun says Nigeria did not apply for World Bank, ADB loans to fund Budget 2016
Nigeria spent N20.2 trillion to import petrol, diesel and kerosene between January 2010 and September 2015, the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has said.
Figures jointly compiled by both the NBS and the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) released at the weekend indicate that N12, 529, 746, 397, 978. 48 was spent on the importation of 102,374,588,480.91 litres of petrol (Premium Motor Spirit).
An amount of N6,450,576,065,479.43 was spent to import 16,679,065,103 litres of diesel (Automotive and Gas Oil).
Between January 2012 and September 2015, N1,271,500,290,241 was spent on the importation of 9,448,409,070 litres of kerosene.
In the meantime, the Minister of Finance Mrs. Kemi Adeosun last night refuted a report published by Financial Times suggesting that Nigeria has applied for emergency loans from the World Bank and the African Development Bank (ADB).
The minister, in a statement by her Special Adviser on Media Matters, Mr. Festus Akanbi, said Nigeria had not applied for any emergency loan.
The statement quoted the minister as saying “the truth is that Nigeria, as part of the plans to fund the 2016 budget currently undergoing the approval process of the National Assembly, has indicated an intention to borrow N1.8trillion principally for investment in capital projects to stimulate the economy.”
She said the option of the World Bank is to ensure an optimum financing structure, noting that 2016 budget is part of the Medium-term economic framework of the Federal government, which the World Bank is aware of.
The proposed budget deficit, according to her, will be funded equally through external and domestic sources.
Nigeria is exploring the options of multi-lateral agencies like the World Bank and AFDB and export credit agencies such as China Exim Bank due to their concessionary interest rates.
Nation with additional report from The Citizen
