The World Bank has released a $1.5billion loan to Nigeria, following the implementation of a few of its economic reforms, including fuel subsidies removal and introducing tax policies by the Tinubu-led administration.
This is according to the World Bank’s recent document on the progress of the loan.
The loan, part of the Reforms for Economic Stabilisation to Enable Transformation Development Policy Financing initiative, is among the fastest disbursements Nigeria has received with both tranches released in less than six months.
The document showed that the loan was approved on June 13, 2024, with the first tranche of $750m disbursed on July 2, 2024, while the latest disbursement was done in November. Accordingly, the second tranche disbursement was tied to the fulfilment of specific economic reform conditions and was disbursed in November 2024.
Consequently, this brought the total disbursement from the World Bank to Nigeria to about $1.88 million, representing less than one percent of the total approved $750 million for the ARMOUR project.
Further details indicated that the $1.5 billion loan disbursed to Nigeria was structured in two tranches, with different maturity periods.
The first tranche was a $750 million credit from the International Development Association, featuring a 12-year maturity and a six-year grace period. The second tranche, a $750m loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, (IBRD) has a 24-year repayment period, with an 11-year grace period.
The World Bank commended the Government for not only meeting the condition but exceeding expectations by fully deregulating the fuel market.
