World Bank Group has invested about $10.734 billion in projects and programmes in Nigeria.
The bank’s delegation of 10 executive directors which visited the country last week, said it was excited with the economy’s return to growth and pledged more collaboration to accelerate the growth rate.
The breakdown of the bank’s total investment showed that Nigeria Country Partnership Strategy extending to FY19 has an investment of $8.8 billion through the International Development Association, IDA, and International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, IBRD.
The International Finance Corporation, IFC, has a commitment $1.6 billion, which is IFC’s fifth largest global country exposure; while Nigeria is MIGA’s fifth largest country exposure in sub-Saharan Africa, with $334 million in current exposure.
On the visit, the leader of the team, Dr. Patrizio Pagano, who is the Executive Director for Italy, Albania, Greece, Malta, Portugal, San Marino and Timor-Leste, was quoted in a statement by the bank, on Monday, as saying: “Our visit to Nigeria is to help us get a better understanding of the country context, assess the World Bank’s interventions on the ground, and support opportunities that will keep the country on a path of sustained development.
“We commend Nigeria’s implementation of its new Economic Growth and Recovery Plan, EGRP, and the Power Sector Recovery Plan, PSRP, both of which are important for regional integration to ensure trade and capital flows, which will ultimately lead to greater growth.”
The EDs held discussions with the Vice President of Nigeria, the Minister of Finance, Executive Governors of Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Edo, Lagos, Taraba and Yobe, other senior government officials at the federal and state level.
They discussed the security challenges in the North East and Middle Belt region and how to achieve development in this challenging environment.
