The International Monetary Fund (IMF), through its Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI), has approved a $3.4 billion emergency loan for Nigeria, to help it curb the economic effects of COVID-19, which has also resulted in a drastic decline in oil prices.
The COVID-19 outbreak, which has been magnified by the drastic decline in oil prices and reduced global demand for oil products, is severely impacting economic activity in Nigeria. These shocks have created significant external and financing needs for 2020. Further declines in oil prices and more protracted containment measures would seriously affect the real and financial sectors and strain the country’s financing.
Mr. Mitsuhiro Furusawa, IMF Deputy Managing Director and Acting Chair
But even before the COVID-19 outbreak, Nigeria’s economy was facing headwinds from rising external vulnerabilities and falling per capita GDP levels.
In early April, the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) committed $1.3 million to Nigeria’s private sector, also to help in the fight against COVID-19.
The United Nations already announced that Africa needs a $100 billion stimulus package in order to survive the global COVID-19 pandemic, with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) reducing the continent’s growth estimate from 3.2% to 1.8%.
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