Why Nigeria Was Not Listed Among 25 Beneficiaries Of IMF Debt Relief – Finance Minister

Nigeria’s Finance Minister, Zainab Ahmed has given reasons why the country was not part of the 25 listed countries to benefit from the recent debt relief by the International Monetary Fund IMF.

In a statement on Thursday, Ahmed said it was because the country was not indebted to the IMF.

The finance minister explained that IMF Executive Board already stated that the relief provides grants to their poorest and most vulnerable members to cover their IMF debt obligations for an initial phase over the next 6 months and since Nigeria was not indebted to the IMF, ‘there is no outstanding debt obligation to be forgiven’.

Ahmed stated: “It is true Nigeria is not a beneficiary of recent IMF debt relief for 25 countries.

“As stated in IMF Executive Board statement, the relief ‘provides grants to our poorest & most vulnerable members to cover their IMF debt obligations for an initial phase over the next 6 months.

“Since Nigeria is not indebted to the IMF, there is no outstanding debt obligation to be forgiven.”

“Nigeria’s application for new IMF financing is under consideration and receiving attention. The new application is for financing under the Rapid Financing Initiative (RFI). She said.

The finance minister further stated that Nigeria is entitled to access up to 100% of its quota under the Rapid Financing Initiative (RFI). “Our current financial position at the IMF is public information on International Monetary Fund website (imf.org).” She added.