IMF boss says she did not come to offer Nigeria any loan

chika ebuzor

January 6, 2016 4:16 AM

She said this after a closed door meeting with President Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Christine Lagarde, the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced to newsmen that she was not in the country to negotiate for any loan.

She said this after a closed door meeting with President Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Lagarde said “Let me make it clear that I am not here (in Nigeria) nor is my team in this country to negotiate a loan with conditionality. We are not into programme negotiations and frankly at this point in time, given the determination and resilience displayed by the President and his team, I don’t see why an IMF programme will be needed.

“So, of course, discipline is going to be needed; of course, implementation is going to be key for the objectives and the ambition to serve the country well in order for it to be actually sustainable.”

She also said “Oil is not the major contributor to the Nigerian GDP, it is only about 40 per cent; but it is a big source of revenue for the government.

“We discussed with the President, vice president and the ministers of Finance and Budget how more efficiency, more transparency, better accountability and enlarging the base of revenue could actually contribute to sound budgets going forward.”

Adding that “It is not for me here and now to actually approve or comment on the budget because we have procedures in the IMF under which a team of economists is going to come next week actually to do what we call the Article 4, which is to review and have good discussion with partners – the IMF on one hand, and the country’s authorities on the other hand.

“This is to really assess whether financing is in place, whether the debt is sustainable, whether the borrowing costs are sensible and what strategy should be put in place in order to address challenges going forward.”

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is an organization of 188 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world.

The IMF boss is currently on a four-day working visit to Nigeria.

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chika ebuzor