World Bank Approves Fresh $114m For Nigeria’s COVID-19 Response

The World Bank said it has approved $114m for Nigeria to combat Covid- 19 pandemic.

The lender disclosed the development in a statement on Friday.

The Country Director of the World Bank, Shubham Chaudhuri, had tipped that the lender might approve Nigeria’s $1.5bn loan request early August at most.

Nigeria’s Finance minister, Zainab Ahmed had said that the loan would be used to finance the country’s budget deficit.

However, the $1.5bn loan suffered a delay as the World Bank Board failed to meet.

However, the bank gave an approval of a separate facility to facilitate Nigeria’s Covid- 19 response after recording 45,000 cases to date.

According to the World bank, the facility would come in the form of a $100m loan and a $14m as grant.

The $114m will be shared among the 36 states and Federal Government for the procurement of medical equipment, tests kits and medicine to combat the pandemic.

Chaudhuri said, “Nigeria has ramped up its efforts to contain the COVID-19 outbreak, but more needs to be done at the state level, which are at the front line of the response.”