The Federal Government of Nigeria will present the required economic reform proposals to allow the country access loan from the World Bank this month, officials and diplomats have said.

The government said it would need $5billion external borrowing to support the implementation of the budget to help haul it out of recession.

The oil producer, which has been hit hard by a sharp fall in crude prices since 2014, has been in talks with the Washington-based lender for a year to secure a loan to help plug a yawning budget deficit and fund badly needed infrastructure projects.

But the government has not specified how much money it was looking to borrow from the World Bank, saying  it aimed to raise $5 billion abroad. It was previously also unclear when Nigeria planned to present its proposed reforms to the lender – which will not consider a loan before it reviews the plans to make the economy more resilient and attractive to investment.

According to Bloomberg report yesterday, the government now plans to present its economic reform proposals by the end of February, according to government officials and Western diplomats who declined to be named as they are not authorised to speak publicly.

Source: Nation