No loan request from Nigeria, IMF clarifies

The International Monetary Fund on Friday denied speculations that the Federal Government was making efforts to request funding from the lender.

This was according to the IMF’s Director of the African department, Mr Abebe Selassie, in a press conference in Washington DC, United States of America, while giving insights on the Regional Economic Outlook for sub-Saharan Africa for October 2024.

“No, there has not been a request for funding from the IMF in Nigeria,” Selassie said, as he responded to a question about whether the Nigerian government was considering a funding request from the IMF.

“To just be very clear, this is also a question that has come up in the context of some other countries. If and when countries turn to us, we hope that they do so having a very clear plan of how they want all kinds of economic reforms they want to pursue. And turning to us would be a way to help reduce the funding costs that they face.

“It is the right of every country that is in good standing with the IMF to borrow and have access to the concessional financing that we provide. But there is no request for funding from Nigeria at the moment,” Selassie added.

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