The Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, on Sunday, at the 2019 Spring Meetings of the World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund , in Washington disclosed that proceeds from the Federal Government’s second $15 billion Green Bond will be used in financing agriculture, power, health and water resources sectors of the economy before the end of 2019.
On bilateral issues, Mrs Ahmed said the country held some bilateral meetings with the Director, Africa Department of IMF to update the Fund on developments in the Nigerian economy and the country’s commitment to fully implement the Economic and Growth Recovery Programme . She said an inter-ministerial working group with representatives of the state governors has been set up and are currently piloting some initiatives in health, education.
“We agreed to bring relevant MDAs together to ensure we advanced this operation in a timely manner. We will also discuss the Country Portfolio Performance of Nigeria which currently stands at to $9.8 billion with the Nigerian Country team at the World Bank and how we could manage the portfolio for optimum results,” she explained.
“The Fund ensures one per cent of the Consolidated Revenue Fund along with contributions from donor grants, is set aside to fund the basic healthcare needs of Nigerians, with focus on primary healthcare and called for assistance in the area of generation and management of data,” she said.