As of April 30, 2025, Nigeria has fully repaid the $3.4 billion emergency funding it received from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in April 2020 under the Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI). This facility was designed to provide urgent financial assistance to countries facing balance of payments needs, particularly in response to the economic challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and the sharp decline in oil prices.
Despite the full repayment of the principal amount, Nigeria is still obligated to make annual payments of approximately $30 million in Special Drawing Rights (SDR) charges. These charges are levied on the difference between Nigeria’s SDR holdings and its cumulative SDR allocation, as stipulated by the IMF’s Articles of Agreement.
The repayment schedule was structured over a five-year period, with a grace period of 3.25 years.
This successful repayment reflects Nigeria’s commitment to meeting its international financial obligations and may enhance its credibility with global financial institutions.
However, the ongoing annual SDR charges highlight the importance of continued fiscal discipline and strategic financial planning to manage external obligations effectively.
The IMF’s confirmation of Nigeria’s repayment and the details of the ongoing charges were reported by multiple news outlets, including Reuters, Daily Trust, and AllAfrica.
The International Monetary Fund says countries across the Middle East and North Africa face significant challenges to economic growth as they face uncertainty due to tariff measures, lower-than-recent oil prices and cuts to financial aid.
In its outlook report for the MENA region, the United Nations financial agency says Brent crude oil prices – which are down from highs above $120 a barrel in 2022 – are likely to be $65 to $69 per barrel in 2025 and 2026.
This will make energy-exporting economies vulnerable to market fluctuations, it adds.
Tariff plans by the U.S. and other countries and geopolitical tensions also have created mounting global uncertainty that is weighing down on the region’s economies.
And this could negatively impact their growth by anywhere from 2% to 4.5%, explains Jihad Azour, who is the director for Middle East and Central Asia at the IMF.
Reductions in foreign aid coming into the region also will play a role, Azour adds, especially after U.S. President Donald Trump pulled his country back from its position as the world’s single largest aid donor.
Although growth in the MENA region is expected to be 2.6% this year, as compared to 1.8% last year, he adds that the global economic uncertainty could impact the outlook.
And he urges countries in the region to “devise policies in order to protect their economies”.
Despite the global economic uncertainty, MENA nations can drive growth through structural reforms and diversifying economic ties, the IMF report says.
Economies in the Persian Gulf continue to attract substantial foreign direct investment, rising by nearly 2% of GDP since the pandemic, while other MENA nations struggle with slower inflows.
The IMF says it is willing to work with some of the struggling nations and the new government in Syria.
Speaking in Dubai, Azour also says that IMF staff and Lebanese officials are in discussions.
Global heat maps of extreme poverty show Africa in deep red.
And the problem will only accelerate as population on the continent grows in coming decades.
“The problems are very real and are large,” newly installed World Bank President David Malpass told AFP in an interview.
The International Monetary Fund and World Bank have had a mixed record in addressing the longstanding challenge of poverty on the continent since the institutions were founded 75 years ago.
Now they must confront the need for massive investment in infrastructure and job creation in the coming years just to keep pace with the growing population on the continent, all while simultaneously managing the threat posed by climate change in a region perhaps least able to confront the costs.
Malpass has made that mission a priority.
“I have put emphasis on having the bottom 40 percent of the population see more jobs, more cash income but also more of the inputs to a better living standard,” Malpass said.
“That might mean access to healthcare, to education. And that would be better environmental practices — all of that contributing to a more prosperous … society.”
In the most recent numbers available, World Bank data show extreme poverty fell worldwide to a new low of 10 percent in 2015. The number of extremely poor people — those who live on $1.90 a day or less, has fallen by more than one billion since 1990.
However, that number is on the rise in Sub-Saharan Africa, which was home more to than half of the world’s extreme poor in 2015.
And forecasts indicate that by 2030, nearly nine in 10 extremely poor people will live in Sub-Saharan Africa, while the continent is expected to add 1.3 billion people, more than half the world’s population growth.
BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)—The mid-year budget review report which was presented on Friday in parliament by Minister of Finance, Economic Planning and Development, Goodall Gondwe, has attracted mixed reactions from different quarters, with International Monetary Fund (IMF) lauding the government for performing well in the first half of the financial year
Presenting the 2016/2017 Mid-Year Budget Review in Parliament on Friday, which has been revised downwards to K1.129 trillion from K1.149 trillion, Gondwe hailed Peter Mutharika administration for putting the country’s economy on a firm path to recovery with the effective fiscal and monetary policies.
He cited the decline in inflation to 10.2 percent as of January, a three percentage points reduction in policy rate to 24 percent and a 5.7 percent over performance in the domestic revenue as some of the indicators portraying the economy on the rebound.
Mixed reactions on Malawi mid-year budget review report: IMF gives it a nod as private sector laments high taxes
Commenting on the report, the IMF has said while the half-year fiscal performance is reassuring and has a clear focus, consolidation will need continued focus on bringing down inflation with fiscal discipline as an anchor.
In an interview with The Nation over the weekend, IMF country representative Jack Ree said the six months has seen a continuation of fiscal consolidation which is key to turning Malawi’s economic fortunes around unlike in the past five years.
“[the year] 2016 has been very difficult. The authorities needed to tackle an immense economic shock coming from the second consecutive year of drought.
“Confidence on Kwacha was low. Inflation expectations were locking at mid-20 percent range, which appeared unbreakable. However, government demonstrated an indestructible will to deal with the problem,” he said as quoted by The Nation newspaper in its 20th February edition.
Ree said policy focus remained persistently on discipline budget and keeping a lid on monetary excess, praising the authorities on structural reforms, particularly in public finance management.
“We are seeing results already,” he said.
However, Ree was coy to comment of the resumption of donor support.
“I would rather not speculate on the prospects of specific donor support programmes that is being discussed,” he said.
Malawi Economic Justice Network (Mejn) executive director Dalitso Kubalasa told the local paper that the government has a lot more to do.
“Government continues to struggle on bringing into fruition both the assumptions on the revenue side and the expenditure side of the budget. The 71 percent underperformance of the grants weighs heavily against the registered positive performance particularly in the tax revenues.
“The slowdown in expenditures also points to a worrisome development around government’s performance and obligation of providing quality public services to the masses, particularly the poor,” Kubalasa said as quoted by the local paper.
Commenting on the same, Malawi Confederation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (MCCCI) chief executive officer Chancellor Kaferapanjira the performance of government hides a lot of expenditure burden that is passed on to the private sector and suffocating its performance.
Meanwhile, Malawi Congress Party (MCP) President Lazarus Chakwera, has bashed the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) led government that the donors cannot trusted the leadership due to its usual casual way of handling corruption.
President Arthur Peter Mutharika says all indicators for the year 2017 point towards an economically stable and well-governed country, a situation that will satisfy aspirations of all players both at micro and macro levels.
In his New Year’s message to Malawians, the President took note of all challenges that have befallen the nation over the past twelve months but underlined his government’s commitment to creating a conducive environment for better living.
“Let us come into the New Year with a positive Economic Mindset. For every problem, there is a solution. For every challenge, there is an opportunity. Most countries have built great economies out of ruins. The fact that you are faced with challenges is not a reason to be hopeless. After all, hope comes where there are challenges. And courage comes where there is fear,” he said. Continue reading Malawi President Mutharika Forecasts Economic and Governance Stability in 2017→
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