PRESS RELEASE: FG not turning to IMF for loan - Budget Ministry

MINISTRY OF BUDGET AND NATIONAL PLANNING PRESS RELEASE

The Ministry of Budget and National Planning has explained that the Federal Government is not looking to source any loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), as reported by a national newspaper on Friday.

While briefing a French delegation that visited him in Abuja on Thursday, on what the Federal Government was doing to drive revenue for its activities, the Minister, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, explained generally that government was exploring both internal and external sources, but emphasized that in the case of external sources, government would only be looking at institutions that can give concessionary terms.

Buhari, Nigeria and the IMF: Echoes from the past by Paul Adams

Nigeria came full circle in April 2015 when it elected Muhammudu Buhari as president, turning in mid-crisis to a former military ruler now convinced of the merits of democracy. Soon after his election, the tortuous course of the relationship Nigeria had embarked upon with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in the 1980s, during Buhari’s first spell in charge, looked set for a reprise.

A cycle recurs roughly every ten years in Nigeria. Oil prices weaken or crash whilst the president spends recklessly to try and hold on to power. He is dislodged and a new president declares the treasury empty and holds talks with the IMF. No deal is agreed, but the World Bank and other donors offer bigger loans on less strict conditions. The oil price picks up – and it’s “business as usual” till the next crash. Successive governments have had just enough oil money in times of crisis to say “no thanks” to the IMF’s cash and policies, and to win public acclaim for standing up to it.

IMF policy prescriptions and oversight can affront national pride, especially that of Nigerians. Allowing the IMF to scrutinise the national accounts also threatens the ruling elite, which is reliant on control of the country’s resources. Nigeria’s accounting for its vast oil revenue and expenditure is at best, and by design, opaque.

Crusade against corruption

PHOTONEWS: President Buhari was a panelist at the opening session of the London Anti-Corruption Summit

President Buhari was a panelist at the opening session of the London Anti-Corruption Summit, this morning!