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Tag: Akinwumi Adesina

  • AfDB hits highest annual disbursement of $7.67bn in 2017 – Adesina

    AfDB hits highest annual disbursement of $7.67bn in 2017 – Adesina

    The President of African Development Bank (AfDB), Dr Akinwumi Adesina, said that the Bank, 2017, achieved its highest annual disbursement ever of 7.67 billion dollars on supports.

    Adesina said this in a statement made available to our reporter on Thursday in Abuja.

    He said that the Bank would continue to support African countries in ensuring stronger macroeconomic policies.

    “The Bank achieved its highest annual disbursement ever in its history, at 7.67 billion dollars.

    “Our investment in the energy sector in 2017 covered 31 operations in 23 countries and totaled 1.39 billion dollars, representing a 30 per cent increase over 2016.

    ” In 2017, the Bank maintained its AAA rating with stable outlook by all four global rating agencies.

    “The Bank’s AAA stable outlook rating is underpinned by sound financial and risk management policies, excellent liquidity and strong shareholder support,” Adesina said.

    He said that the Bank was working hard to be more efficient and become impact driven organisation; one that accelerated Africa’s development, holding itself to a higher standard of performance.

    The president said that it was only when the Bank became performance driven that it could meet Africa’s expectations.

    Adesina assured that the Bank intended to score a lot more development goals for Africa, adding that there was need for greater alignment, performance and accountability for results.

    He said that the Bank launched its largest bond transaction with 2.5 billion dollars three-year global benchmark followed by its largest ever five-year global benchmark for 2 billion dollars.

    According to him, the Bank continues to grow its income solidly, reversing its declining income when he started two years ago.

    He said that the net operating income of the Bank had declined from 589.3 million dollars in 2014 to 492.7 million dollars in 2015, when he took over, adding that ever since there had been a rapid turnaround.

    Read Also: AfDB portfolio in Nigeria over $6bn  – Adesina

    “In 2016, the net operating income rose to 556.6 million dollars and shot up to 855 million dollars in 2017, an increase of almost 54 per cent over 2016.

    ” To put things in context, this is also a 73 per cent increase over where we were in 2015.

    “The Bank is mobilising more resources for Africa. In 2017, we mobilised 9.73 billion dollars from the capital markets for African countries including 300 million dollars from the enhanced private sector facility for Africa.

    “I am delighted that in 2017, the Bank helped leverage 6 billion dollars for the landmark Japan-Africa Energy Financing Facility.

    “This will help accelerate efforts to light up and power Africa,” Adesina said.

    He said that the Bank was doing a lot on “Light Up and Power Africa agenda”, adding that in 2017 it invested 1.39 billion dollars.

    He added that the aim was to improve access to electricity to help generate an additional 1,400 MW of power and connect 3.8 million persons to electricity.

    On renewable engergy, the president said that the Bank was leading, adding that when he assumed office, the share of renewable energy in the Bank total power portfolio was just 14 per cent.

    “However, we increased that to 74 per cent in 2016 and in 2017; we achieved a record-breaking 100 per cent of our new lending in renewable energy.

    He said that with access to more funding, “we hope to provide electricity to an unprecedented 29.3 million Africans between 2018-2020”.

    The president said that the Bank was spearheading the development of the desert to power initiative to harness electricity from the sun all across the Sahel.

    He said that “our goal is to support the generation of 10,000 MW of power, connect 250 million persons to electricity, of which 75 million people will be through off-grid systems.

    “Africa needs to promote green growth. We are extremely conscious of our climate and environmental responsibilities and leadership role.

    Adesina said that the Bank would be tripling its climate finance to 40 per cent of its portfolio by 2020.

    On agriculture, he said that the Bank in 2017, invested 1.16 billion dollars in the sector – the highest ever in the Bank’s history.

    It also launched Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT), a one-billion dollar initiative to take agriculture technologies to scale for millions of farmers.

    Adesina said that with adequate resources, between 2018-2020, the Bank expected to provide 29.2 million Africans with access to electricity.

    He added that the bank’s Integrate Africa High 5 would provide 50 million Africans with improved access to transport.

    Likewise, the Bank’s High 5 on Industrialising Africa would enable seven million people to benefit from investment projects.

    He added that High 5, on improving the quality of life would also provide 36.8 million persons with improved access to water and sanitation.

    Adesina said that the support of all shareholders was crucial for the general capital increase of the Bank.

    He said that the Bank would do more for Africa and “we are working extremely hard to revamp the Bank and put it in a much stronger position, with more highly capable staff and institutional capacity to deliver more, better and faster support.

    ” Our ability to deliver in the past and now is a good indication that you can depend on us to deliver more in the future.

     

    NAN

  • Buhari hints on contesting future elections 

    Buhari hints on contesting future elections 

    President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday night hinted that he might contest future elections.

    Buhari gave the hint jokingly while interacting with the Nigerian community in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, even though he did not say if he was going to recontest the 2019 Presidential elections.

    The President is in Abidjan, for the 5th European Union-African Union (EU-AU) Summit.

    The President while apologizing for keeping those that came for the interactive session waiting, explained that he insisted on having governors Emmanuel Udom of Akwa Ibom State and Mohammed Abubakar of Bauchi State present, so that Nigerians in Côte d’Ivoire from the two states will be happy that he was accompanied by their governors and that might earn him votes in future.

    He said “First I want to apologize for keeping you for too long seating; this is because I insisted on the governors attending this meeting. This is why I came along with them so that when we are going to meet you, when you are going to meet the rest of Nigerians if you tell them that their governors were in the accompany of the president, I think that will be another vote for me in the future. I’m very pleased that they were able to turn up,” he said

    The hall immediately erupted in laughter and clapping.

    The President also said that his support for President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Akinwumi Adesina, despite serving as minister in a PDP-led government was to further confirm his remarks at his inauguration on May 29th, 2015, that he belongs to everybody and nobody in particular.

    The President who was reacting to Adesina’s gratitude to his administration for supporting him to get the job, leading to becoming the first Nigerian to head the continental bank since it was set up in 1964.

    He said, “the President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), who forgot to mention that he was serving in the PDP government as minister but all the same I picked him and recommended him for AfDB. I think it emphasized what I said during my swearing in that I’m for everybody, I’m for nobody. As long as you are a Nigerian be prepared to be on the receiving end from me.”

    President Buhari also thanks the national leader, of the All Progressive Congress Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, for bringing him a beautiful piece of information which he was not aware of until now.

    Buhari however did not disclose what piece of information it was but promised to discuss it in detail with Tinubu.

    He said “I also thank our leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. He has brought me a very beautiful piece of information which I was not aware of it until I sat down and read it this evening (Tuesday night). Thank you very much for your hardwork and I will discuss that paper with you.”

    Adesina in his remarks noted that the economy picked up soon after the President’s health, adding that “so it seems there is a correlation between the President’s health and the improved economy.”

    On security, Adesina said the bank has released $250 million for the construction and rehabilitation of the Northeast, destroyed by the Boko Haram insurgents.

    He also told the President that the AfDB has constructed a big building behind the Yar’Adua centre started in 2016 and completed.

    He said it is the first of such building by AfDB outside its Abidjan headquarters which he will want President Buhari to commission.

    Adesina said, “I want to thank you immensely. I want to thank God for your health because I must say that for all of us that has been a big concern. But seeing you fit as a fiddle and seeing you back in action, we thank God for that and may God continue to give you great strength.

    “Mr. President as you must have noticed, there is a very strong correlation between your health and the economy and when you came back the economy picked up after that. So we wish you great health so that the economy can continue to pick.

    “I also want to congratulate you for the economic growth and recovery plan that you have put in place and the incredible plan that you have put in place to bring the economy out of recession and also in terms of the fact that Nigeria has moved up in the World Bank ease of doing business index. Is to your leadership, vision and commitment that we want to from the African Development Bank commend you Mr. President and to assure you of our strong support behind you and your government for the efforts to try and move Nigeria forward. We are solidly behind you, you can count on that.

    “I also want to thank you for your leadership on the Boko Haram issue because to draw investments into Nigeria, you absolutely have to have security. I think that securing our borders is very important thanks to your leadership for that. I also thank you for all the efforts you have made in the Lake Chad Basin Area.

    “I was with you in Paris where you led the efforts in reviving the Lake Chad Basin. As you know Mr. President, the bank is very strongly behind that. We put in $250 million to support the northeast of Nigeria rebuilding. I know you were criticize for rebuilding but I don’t see anything wrong, if things get destroyed they have to be rebuilt and the African Development Bank has contributed $250 million towards that,” he said.

  • AfDB to invest $12bn in power sector in Africa in 4 years – Adesina

    AfDB to invest $12bn in power sector in Africa in 4 years – Adesina

    Dr Akinwumi Adesina, President, African Development Bank ( AfDB ), says the bank would invest 12 billion dollars
    in the power sector in Africa in four years with the goal of leveraging on the aviation sector.

    He said this while speaking in Abuja.

    Adesina said the aviation sector was very important to the continent but that it could not operate in the dark.

    He said the sector was very important to Africa because it accounted for about 73 billion dollars in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and created about 7 million jobs across the continent.

    “Without electricity, you really cannot operate any effective and efficient airline industry and so this is one of the top priorities of the bank.

    “We are investing in the power sector 12 billion dollars in the next four years with the goal of leveraging between 45 to 50 million dollars in this sector because I firmly believe that Africa cannot develop in the dark.

    “So we must fast track that and when we have electricity, everything functions, even for the aviation industry and the tourism industry is actually quite linked to the avaiation industry as well.”

    He said the bank had invested over 20 billion dollars on infrastructure in Africa in the last 10 years, specifically one
    billion dollars in the aviation sector.

    Adesina said the bank’s investment in the sector covered building new airports in Ghana, Senegal, Casablanca and building of new infrastructure in Morocco.

    As for Nigeria, he said the government was developing a new aviation sector investment plan, adding that the government was interested in a number of areas.

    “First is we are looking at how to support more investment in airport infrastructure; they are also looking at how to create aircraft maintenance, repair and also overhaul facility.

    “But one of the biggest problems in Africa is we do not have any aircraft leasing facilities and that is one of the things that the government is looking at.

    We are looking at upgrading some of the navigational infrastructure.

    So as a bank, we are very strong supporters of the government.

    “Once the government comes up with its plan and what that really means in terms of the need, then we can play the role that they are asking us to play but we do not make decisions for the government.”

    AfDB is a multilateral development finance institution aimed at fighting poverty and improving the living conditions on the African continent.

    It does this by promoting the investment of public and private capital in projects and programmes that are likely to contribute to the economic and social development of the region.

    NAN

  • AfDB portfolio in Nigeria over $6bn – Adesina

    AfDB portfolio in Nigeria over $6bn – Adesina

    Dr Akinwumi Adesina, President of African Development Bank ( AfDB ), says the bank’s total active portfolio in Nigeria is over six billion dollars.

    Adesina said this in an interview on Wednesday in Abuja.

    “The bank supports Nigeria very strongly.

    “When Nigeria was going through a tough economic time, we led the world actually in rallying support around for a budget support which we did at 600 million dollars to help build more resilient economy as it shows a better diversified economy.

    “If you look at our total active portfolio in the country now, it is over 6 billion dollars.

    “Take for example, we invested over 300 million dollars from the private sector part of the bank in Dangote industries – Petro-chemical industries and the fertiliser manufacturing companies.

    “We also invested over 100 million dollars in the Indorama fertiliser companies as well; they are looking at us to do more, additional 100 million dollars for them.’’

    In addition, he said the Bank had been supporting the recovery effort of the Federal Government in the North East.

    He, however, commended President Muhammadu Buhari for the investment made so far in rebuilding the North East.

    “I give the President kudos for all that has been achieved. We have to rebuild the infrastructure – road, schools etc

    “We have Basic Livelihood Support Programme for over 250 million dollars that we have done for the North East of Nigeria.

    “On agriculture, the Board has just approved a programme called Enable Youth.

    “The programme is to create a generation of young commercial farmers in Nigeria; that is about 430 million dollars we are investing in that.’’

    Adesina, who won the 2017 World Food Laureate Award in Agriculture in the U.S., further said that the Bank had been doing a lot of line credit in Nigeria for commercial banks to lend to small and medium size enterprises.

    He said that the Bank had been talking with the Minister of Power about how to help in the power sector in Nigeria.

    “We have invested a lot in the transmission companies of Nigeria.

    “We are also helping them to have an additional 200 million dollars to post bonds, to be able to raise money to modernise the transmission network in Nigeria.

    “I remember during COP 22 in Morocco, I spoke to the Minister of Power, Fasola and I told him to visit Noor Ouarzazate, the largest Concentrated Solar Power ( CSP ) plant in the World, that was financed by the AfDB in Morroco.

    “He said he was very pleased with the idea and we are supporting his ministry now with a big project, we are going to do in Jigawa a project on Solar.

    “We have a number of states that have approached us and we are looking at various opportunities of supporting from Ogun, we are looking into that; we are looking at Kaduna, Kano states and others.

    “Nigeria is a big market for us and we are going forward in terms of our planning investment over the next three years.

    “It will be over 4.1 billion dollars that we are planning for Nigeria that will cover agriculture, infrastructure, power sector, basic livelihood in terms of water and sanitation,’’ he said.

    Adesina, however, expressed optimism over the implementation of the bank projects in Nigeria, adding that there was a very stringent monitoring system to ensure implementation of set targets.

    “We are quite pleased with a lot of progress I have seen on several of the projects that we have in Nigeria.

    “Obviously, a lot of improvement is needed in terms of the time it takes to actually sign some of the required agreements; it takes a lot of time.

    “We are going to do better because the more we can do that, the more we can actually show better impact in Nigeria.

    “Having talked to the authority to help us improve the time, it takes between when we approve something and when it is signed, it becomes effective in Nigeria.”

    NAN

  • Adesina receives award, commits $250,000 to African youths in agriculture

    Adesina receives award, commits $250,000 to African youths in agriculture

    Nigeria’s image received a boost on Thursday before the international community as former Agriculture Minister Akinwumi Adesina formally received the 2017 World Food Prize ( WFP ) Laureate award in the U. S.

    Adesina was confered with the laureate in Des Moines, U. S. during which he committed the 250,000 dollars cash prize to set up a fund for financing African youths in agriculture.

    Adesina had been announced as winner of the global feat by the WFP for his dogged determination and practical commitment to boosting agriculture and food supply chain both as Minister of Agriculture and President of AfDB.

    Adesina, who is also the President of African Development Bank ( AfDB ), commended his staff for the shared passion to feed Africa.

    The former minister expressed gratitude to ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo for nominating him as minister.

    Adesina also thanked former President GoodLuck Jonathan for giving him the opportunity of his life to serve his country, Nigeria, as a minister.

    He also thanked President Muhammadu Buhari for his strong support to achieve the feat.

    “There wouldn’t be any rest for me until Africa feeds itself and for that we need the youth.

    “And so even though I don’t have the cash in my hand, I hereby commit my 250,000 dollars as a cash prize for  the WFP award to set up a fund fully dedicated to providing financing for the youth of Africa in agriculture to feed Africa.

    “A day is coming very soon when the barns of Africa will be filled and all her children will be well fed, when millions of farmers will be able to send their kids to school.

    “Then you will hear a new song across Africa; thank God our lives are better for us,’’Adesina said.

    The Governor of Iowa, Kim Reynolds, who officially declared Adesina as the 2017 laureate winner of the WFP, said he was a man who grew out of poverty to create wealth.

    Reynolds said that the laureate commitment and dedication in agriculture had impacted on lives of many, not only in Africa but around the world.

    Former President of Ghana, John Mahama, attended the ceremony and other dignitaries from Nigeria and African countries.

    NAN

  • AfDB to invest $24bn in agriculture in 10 years – Adesina

    AfDB to invest $24bn in agriculture in 10 years – Adesina

    The African Development Bank ( AfDB ) says the bank will invest 24 billion dollars in agriculture over the next 10 years to help unlock its potential and assure food security in Africa.

    Akinwumi Adesina said this at a side event of the ongoing Borlaug Dialogue International Symposium in Des Moines, Iowa, USA on Wednesday.

    Adesina said there was need for supportive public policies and significant investments in infrastructure, especially for roads, irrigation, storage, warehousing and agro-processing.

    He said that AfDB would provide support to strengthen African agricultural research and development systems to play significant roles in the transformation processes.

    The former Agriculture Minister said the support was to ensure that valuable research no longer simplied gathered dust on the shelves of academia.

    The president said that AfDB’s Feed Africa strategy had launched the Transformation of the African Savannah Initiatives (TASI) to help unlock the potential of the Savannas of Africa.

    He said that the initiative would start by bringing approximately two million hectares of savannah in eight African countries – Ghana, Guinea, Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, Uganda, Kenya, Zambia and Mozambique.

    These countries come under the cultivation of maize, soybean and livestock production in optimum conditions.

    “Success in this endeavor requires that we wake up the savannas of Africa.

    “When we do so, African agriculture will indeed rise up from its slumber.

    “Let’s wake up Africa’s savannas and turn them into the new wealth zones of Africa and unleash Africa as a global powerhouse in food. Together let arise and feed Africa.

    “Valuable research must meet the needs of farmers and agri-businesses in ways that exponentially increase productivity and improve the quality of lives of our rural poor.

    “Africa must learn from the experiences that have worked elsewhere, while tailoring the interventions to the specific realities of Africa.

    “We must ensure that small, medium scale and large-scale commercial farmers co-exist in a way that allows opportunities for all.

    “Partnerships in research and development will be crucial,” Adesina said.

    According to him, the bank has engaged to work with the strongest possible organisations with proven track records in tropical agriculture from South America.

    He said that this included the Brazilian Research Corporation ( EMBRAPA ), the Agricultural Corporation of Brazil ( CAMPO ), and others with long experience in conservation agriculture.

    Adesina that the research institutions would work closely with the universities and the national agricultural research systems across the savannas of Africa to enhance agriculture.

    NAN

  • ‘AfDB grants $800m for agric. transformation’

    ‘AfDB grants $800m for agric. transformation’

    Dr Akinwumi Adesina, the President of African Development Bank ( AfDB ), says the bank and World Bank have set aside 800 million dollars for the provision of agriculture technologies to farmers in Africa.

    He made this known at the ongoing 2017 African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) on Wednesday in Abidjan, made available to News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.

    According to him, the financial support will come under a flagship programme for scaling up of agriculture known as “Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation”.

    The AfDB boss noted that the technologies to feed Africa exist already, but need to be scaled up for widespread adoption because it required specific incentives.

    He added that “agriculture is instrumental in Africa’s poverty and it must be instrumental in its wealth but only through agricultural regeneration.

    “No region of the world has ever industrialised without the agriculture sector being first transformed,’’ he said.

    Adesina said the future of Africa depended on agriculture and required 40 billion dollars yearly over the next 10 years.

    He, however, added that “it is a lot of money, but it is available, even within Africa, if the projects are good enough.

    “We must bring an end to the costly and damaging anomaly of the net deficit in food. No more should Africa produce what it does not or cannot consume, and no more should it consume what it does not but could easily produce.”

    He disclosed that AfDB was promoting national risk sharing facilities in every country to leverage agricultural finance, similar to the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL).

    NIRSA is a facility designed to reduce the risk of lending to Nigerian agriculture value chains.

    “The impact in Nigeria was massive because 15 million farmers were reached in four years, 2.5 million of them women, while food production expanded by over 21 million tonnes.

    “Today, several African countries are adopting the approach, as well as others such as Afghanistan.”

    Adesina predicted that the next few years would see agriculture emerge fully from poverty and subsistence to become the next big booming business sector of Africa.

    He said “Africans need to become producers and creators, and not just consumers, in the fast-moving enterprising business of food.

    “I am confident that we will soon see Africa’s first tranche of billionaires coming from the farming and food sectors.”

  • AFDB to invest $24bn in agriculture – Adesina

    AFDB to invest $24bn in agriculture – Adesina

    Dr Akinwumi Adesina, the President of the African Development Bank (AFDB) says  the bank will invest $24 billion in agriculture in Africa over the next 10 years.

    Adesina made the disclosure at the 50th anniversary celebration of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Ibadan on Monday.

    The AFDB president said the bank was committed  to turning  agriculture into a business across Africa and to ensure that the continent fed itself within the next 10 years.

    Adesina said that AFDB had decided to work with IITA to help drive Africa’s agricultural sector transformation and unlock  its full potentials.

    “At the core of this  is getting technologies to millions of farmers and the bank has developed the Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) together with IITA and other centres as a technology platform.

    “ This is to help take high yielding technologies to farmers for an African green revolution.

    “AFDB and the World Bank expect to invest up to $800 million in TAAT which will be launched this year,’’ he said.

    Adesina said that the past 50 years of IITA had been full of successes, adding that the institution was run with transparency, honesty and integrity.

    The former agriculture minister said that IITA had contributed so much to agriculture across Africa and in Nigeria in particular.

    He said that the institute developed the maize varieties that transformed the savanna and humid zones.

    “Its cowpea varieties supply the beans on our markets and the soybeans varieties led to the soya beans revolution in Nigeria.

    “While its work on cassava and yam still form the core of Nigeria’s cassava and yams value chain transformation, IITA’s work on alley-farming  sparked global interest in sustainable agriculture.

    “Its landmark breakthrough on biological control which saved Africa from the devastating cassava mealy bug that had wiped out all its cassava was globally recognised,’’ Adesina said.

    In his address, the Director General of IITA, Dr Nteranya Sanginga, highlighted the  successes recorded in the last 50 years.

    Sangina appreciated contributions of former President Olusegun Obasanjo and retired  Gen. Yakubu Gowon to IITA in Nigeria.

    He said that the next agenda of the institute was to see Africa becoming a continent consuming what it produces  in agriculture.

    The director general  pointed out that 99 per cent of funds used in running IITA came from outside  the country  and urged Nigerians to invest in agriculture.

    According to Sangina, there will be serious crisis if funds from outside the country stopped  coming in.

  • Obasanjo, Adesina to speak on African trade at Afreximbank AGM

    Obasanjo, Adesina to speak on African trade at Afreximbank AGM

    The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) says former President Olusegun Obasanjo will speak on African trade at the bank’s 24th Annual General Meeting of Shareholders (AGM) scheduled for June 28 in Kigali.

    This was announced in a statement by the bank’s spokesman, Mr Obi Emekekwue, on Wednesday in Lagos.

    Emekekwue said the President, African Development Bank (AfDB), Dr Akinwumi Adesina, and Okechukwu Enelamah, Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment of Nigeria would also speak at the event.

    He said Prof. Justin Lin, Director, Centre for New Structural Economics and Honorary Dean, National School of Development, Peking University, China and Ade Ayeyemi, Chief Executive Officer, Ecobank Transnational, would speak on integration.

    He said that Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda, Anastase Murekezi, the Prime Minister and Claver Gatete, the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, among others, would address the four-day event.

    According to Emekekwue, the theme of this year’s meeting is: Boosting intra-African trade and integration.

    He said the event would feature a meeting of the Afreximbank Advisory Group on Trade Finance and Export Development in Africa, which would focus on Africa’s trade opportunities in a world of rising protectionism.

    “There will be an investment forum to be hosted by the Rwandan Government while a trade exhibition will also take place on June 30,” he said.

    Afreximbank is the foremost Pan-African multilateral financial institution devoted to financing and promoting intra- and extra-African trade.

    The bank was established in October 1993 by African governments, African private and institutional investors, and non-African investors.

    Its two basic constitutive documents are the Establishment Agreement, which gives it the status of an international organisation, and the Charter, which governs its corporate structure and operations.

    Since 1994, it has approved more than 51 billion dollars in credit facilities for African businesses, including about 10.3 billion do0llars in 2016.

    Afreximbank has total assets of 9.4 billion dollars as at April 30, 2016 and is rated BBB+ (GCR), Baa1 (Moody’s), and BBB- (Fitch). The bank is based in Cairo.

     

  • Recession: AfDB approves $600m support for Nigeria

    Recession: AfDB approves $600m support for Nigeria

    The African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved 600 million dollars loan as the first tranche of a one-billion-dollar budget support to help finance Nigeria’s economic governance, diversification and competitiveness programme.

    The Spokesperson for the bank in Nigeria, Fatima Abubakar, said in a statement that executive directors of the bank approved the facility on Wednesday.

    The last tranche of 400 million dollars will be approved in 2017, Abubakar said.

    The operation is part of a two-year (2016-2017) fiscal programme of support to enable Nigeria to implement reforms to achieve efficiency in government business, combat corruption and promote diversification.

    It will help the government to create fiscal space to facilitate  smooth implementation of its budget, support fiscal and structural reforms and improve social sector spending to protect the most vulnerable segments of the population.

    The facility will also assist the country’s efforts to quickly build a buffer of foreign exchange reserves, which will  contribute to easing pressure on the foreign exchange market and stabilising the naira, she said.

    Nigeria’s success in efforts to achieve macroeconomic stability and economic recovery will signal the end of the current recession.

    An elongation of the recession has the potential to severely affect the economies of neighbouring countries in West and Central Africa, she added.

    Abubakar quoted AfDB President Akinwumi Adesina  as saying: “We must think through innovative solutions to support our regional member countries in crisis situations like this.

    “We must also provide them with the knowledge products they require to get back on track.”

    She added that given Nigeria’s demonstrated commitment to significantly scale up infrastructure investments (30 per cent of the 2016 Budget), the resources would contribute to creating the fiscal space for investments in power, housing and transport.

    These are key sectors for stimulating the strong economic growth required to exit the recession, Abubakar said.

    Nigeria’s economy has been hard hit by a sharp decline in oil prices, which provides the bulk of government revenues and exports although agriculture and services contribute most to GDP.

    Over 90 per cent of Nigeria’s exports and at least 70 per cent of government revenues come from the oil sector, which is projected to have shrunk by 1.6 per cent within the year.

    The economy slipped into a recession in the second half of the year because of foreign currency shortages, sharp reduction in power generation, vandalism of oil installations, lower oil production and weak investor confidence.

    At the end of  December 2015, AfDB’s portfolio comprised 46 operations estimated at 3.01 billion dollars.

    The portfolio consists of 22 public sector operations valued at 1.51 billion dollars or 31 percent of the entire portfolio and 24 private sector projects, estimated at 2.21 billion dollars or 69 percent.

    Adesina had, at recent meeting with President Munhammadu Buhari and economic stakeholders, pledged to provide Nigeria with one billion dollars loan to help it reinvigorate the economy.