The World Bank held talks with Nigerian president, Muhammadu Buhari, on Wednesday on how it could help Nigeria overcome an economic crisis caused mainly by a sharp fall in crude prices eating into its oil revenues. On her second day of meetings with Nigerian officials, World Bank Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer Sri Mulyani Indrawati met President Muhammadu Buhari, who plans to stimulate the flagging economy with a record 6 trillion naira ($31 billion) budget. Nigeria will have to borrow 1.8 trillion naira from abroad and at home to help fund the budget, which has been delayed by several months and wrangling with parliament, if it goes ahead.
Although Nigeria has held talks with the World Bank over a possible loan or credit facility in recent months, Indrawati did not address this when speaking to reporters after the meeting. Africa’s biggest economy will have to borrow 1.8 trillion naira from abroad and at home to help fund an ambitious 6 trillion naira budget ($31 billion) aimed at stimulating the economy. About 70 percent of Nigeria’s government revenues come from the oil sector while the non- oil industry which accounts for 90 percent of the country’s GDP, remains fully untapped. Read more on this story here.