We May Borrow From IMF Food Security Package- F.G

The Federal government has disclosed its intention to borrow from the recent food security package offered by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) if the terms and conditions are favourable.

The money, the government said, could be useful in adding to the country’s reserves and coping with the challenges the country is facing, particularly the impending stress to the food system as a result of recent floods across the country.

Minister of finance, budget and national planning, Zainab Ahmed, stated this on the sidelines at the ongoing IMF-World Bank meetings in Washington, on Wednesday.

The finance minister also said the federal government has been engaging financial institutions to look into the country’s portfolio debt to restructure and further stretch the debt service period to give more fiscal relief.

While acknowledging that Nigeria’s debt has increased over the last three to four years, she said the increase was occasioned by the different kinds of exogenous shocks the country faced, which is not unique to Nigeria.

“The last drawing we had from the IMF is the second round of special drawing rights (SDRs) that was provided for all the member countries. The IMF recently offered a food security package that countries can draw, and it is equivalent to about 50 percent of their SDRs.

“We have not taken a decision to draw on that. We have to examine the requirements, terms and conditions, to see if it will be safe for us to draw because we don’t want to be drawn into an IMF programme,” she stated.