Nigeria To Secure   $2.2bn World Bank Loans 

By Uche Onyeali, with Agency Report 

World Bank has approved $2.2 billion new loans for Nigeria in 2025.

According to the World Bank’s project list, the $2.2 billion will be allocated across six different projects.

The bank  earmarked $500 million for the ‘Community Action for Resilience and Economic Stimulus Programme,’ which is set for approval on March 17.

In addition, the global financial institution plans to approve $552 million for  ‘HOPE for Quality Basic Education for All’ and $800 million for ‘Accelerating Nutrition Results in Nigeria 2.0’ on March 31.

The bank  disclosed that it would approve $300 million for the ‘Solutions for the Internally Displaced and Host Communities Project’ on July 15 and another $300 million for the ‘Health Security Programme’ on August 19.

The list also includes another project, ‘Building Resilient Digital Infrastructure for Growth, BRIDGE,’ which will receive $500 million upon approval on September 15.

According to the Washington-based institution, the BRIDGE initiative and Health Security Programme are currently in the concept review stage, indicating that they are still in the early stages of assessment and planning.

Meanwhile,  ‘Accelerating Nutrition Results in Nigeria 2.0’ and ‘HOPE for Quality Basic Education’ projects have progressed to the negotiation stage.

The multilateral lender provided Nigeria with $1.5 billion in 2024 for several key development initiatives aimed at strengthening the country’s resource mobilisation and economic stability.

On November 19, 2024, Nigeria’s loan exposure from  World Bank’s International Development Association, IDA, rose to $17.1 billion.

According to  IDA’s financial statement for September 2024, Nigeria ranked third on the list of the top 10 borrowers.

As of December 31, 2024, its exposure had dropped to $16.8 billion, but the country retained its position as the third-largest debtor to  World Bank’s IDA.