Nigeria gets World Bank funding ahead of subsidy removal
Nigeria secured $800 million from the World Bank as it prepares to eliminate a subsidy on fuel. The country’s finance minister said on Wednesday that the money would be disbursed as cash to about a quarter of Nigerian households, Voice of America reports.
The fuel subsidy, which the country has said will be removed in June, costs the country 400 billion naira (about $870 million) per month, Premium Times reports. Other international lenders including the IMF have urged Nigeria to eliminate the fuel subsidy.
The Nigerian economy has been reeling since a cash shortage that began last October made payments difficult for the country’s primarily unbanked and cash-dependent population. Financial analysts estimate the crisis has cost the Nigerian economy 20 trillion naira (about $43 billion), Deutsche Welle reports. This week, the country’s central bank doubled the supply of bank notes.
