FEDERAL GOVERNMENT APPROVES $150m FUND TO MEET SHORTFALLS IN MONTHLY ALLOCATION

The Federal Government has announced the approval of $150million stabilisation fund to meet shortfalls in monthly allocations.

The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, announced this on Monday, in Abuja during a media briefing on the measures to tackle the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic on the economy.

She explained that owing to the decline in the monthly allocations from N716 billion in January to N645 billion in February and N581 billion in March, the Federal Government has approved a stabilisation fund of $150 million to meet the short fall in monthly allocation.

She added that the amount would be withdrawn from the stabilisation fund component of the Sovereign Wealth Fund.

Ahmed during the briefing also announced the establishment of a N500 billion COVID-19 crisis intervention fund.

Part of the proceeds of the intervention fund will go into a special works program, which targets states and local governments and is expected to create one thousand jobs in each local government areas.

Other measures to be adopted by the Federal Government to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on the economy, according to Ahmed, include accessing loans from the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the African Development Bank and the Islamic Development Bank.

She gave a breakdown of expected loans from International Organisations to include $3.4 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF); $2.5 billion from the World Bank; and $1billion from the African Development Bank (ADB).

As part of measures to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic, the Federal Government also plans to restructure the Treasury Single Account.

This according to the Finance Minister is to allow for flexibility of donations into the Federal Government’s coffers.