- Backs FG’s subsidy removal, exchange rate unification
- Approves fresh $500m loan for Nigeria
The World Bank has expressed its support for the Federal Government’s decision to remove subsidies and unify the country’s exchange rate.
This follows President Bola Tinubu’s recent speech advocating for these measures.
During an event organised by the World Bank to assess Nigeria’s economy over the past six months on Tuesday, Country Director, Subham Chadhuri, emphasized that although the policy would be painful, it is essential for rebuilding the nation’s economy.
He also called for measures to mitigate the impact on the population moving forward.
Chadhuri disclosed that the World Bank’s concessional funding to Nigeria currently amounts to over $10bn, underscoring the organisation’s commitment to supporting the country’s economic reforms.
Also, a lead economist at the World Bank, Alex Seinart, projected that the removal of fuel subsidies would yield fiscal gains estimated at about N3.9trn in 2023.
Seinart cautioned that the subsidy removal might lead to a temporary increase in inflation in the coming months but predicted it would contribute to disinflation in the medium term.
On the exchange rate, the senior economist highlighted that the previous foreign exchange management approach hindered investment and economic growth, contributed to inflation, and undermined the effectiveness of monetary and fiscal policies.
World Bank okays fresh $500m loan for FG
Meanwhile, the World Bank Group has approved a loan of $500m to help Nigeria drive women’s empowerment.
This became the second loan approved by the World Bank under the new President, Bola Tinubu.
It is a scale-up financing for Nigeria for Women Programme, which was initially approved on June 27, 2018, with $100m financing.
A statement by the World Bank read in part, “The World Bank has approved $500m for Nigeria for Women Program Scale Up (NFWP-SU). The scale-up financing will further support the government of Nigeria to invest in improving the livelihoods of women in Nigeria.
“The NFWP-SU will help to ensure better economic opportunities for women, which is essential for addressing gender inequality; guaranteeing better education, health, and nutrition outcomes for families; and building women’s and communities’ resilience to climate change.”
The World Bank stressed the need for the government to address issues that inhibit women’s economic empowerment and hinder inclusive, low-carbon, and resilient economic growth.
It noted that women’s empowerment is essential to their ability to build resilience to climate change and, by extension, the resilience of their households and communities.
The World Bank Country Director for Nigeria, Shubham Chaudhuri, was quoted as saying, “We have seen promising outcomes from the parent NFWP which has helped to create economic opportunities for thousands of rural women through the Women Affinity Groups. NFWP’s model is helping to improve livelihood opportunities for women and enhancing their capacity to adapt to climate change and to participate in local administrations for policymaking related to community empowerment.
“Closing the gender gap in key economic sectors could yield gains of between $9.3bn and $22.9bn, we are optimistic that this scale-up will help Nigeria to move closer to bridging this gap.”
Also, the Task Team Leader for Nigeria for Women Project, Michael Ilesanmi, said, “The Program aims to mobilize poor and vulnerable women into different institutions and, using these institutional platforms, link them to markets as well as financial and non-financial services. Through participation in Women Affinity Groups, project beneficiaries build social capital that can then be leveraged to access financial, political, and economic capital–thus leading to both social and economic empowerment.”
It was disclosed that NFWP has been implemented in six states and provides support to over 427,887 Women Affinity Groups’ members through the formation and strengthening of 20,506 of these groups.
In about two years, these WAGs have saved about NGN 4bn ($8.9m equivalent), with a significant percentage of these funds in circulation as loans at any given time. So far, 835,573 community members have benefitted from the NFWP through different interventions.
Canada unveils new job opportunities for Nigeria, others
Also, Canada has unveiled its first-ever immigration tech talent strategy that will create new job opportunities for other countries including Nigeria.
This comes a few days after Germany passed an immigrant law designed to encourage more people from outside the European Union to come to the country for work.
The talent strategy which was launched at the 2023 Collision Conference in Toronto includes new measures and improvements on existing measures to help businesses in Canada thrive in a competitive landscape.
“Over this year, Canada is going to be developing a specific stream for some of the world’s most highly talented people that will be able to come to Canada to work for tech companies whether they have a job offer or not,” Sean Fraser, Canada’s Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, said on Tuesday.
“We are going to be launching a digital Nomads strategy which is going to allow people, who have a foreign employer, to come and work in Canada for up to six months,” he said.
He said they will live in communities in the county and spend money and should they receive job offers while they are here, they are going to allow them to continue to stay and work in the country.
“Finally, we have been watching very closely what has been going on in the tech sector in the United States where we have seen a public narrative about layoffs. We have been having private conversations about opportunities” he added.
According to the minister, going forward, as of July 16, they will have a stream that will allow 10,000 H-1B visa holders in the United States to come and work in Canada.
“The reality is that you have the ideas but you need the talents. You have told us that and we have been listening. We are going to do everything we can to push Canada as the destination where your ideas can become a reality,’ he said.
Canada’s aging population and lower birth rate have been shrinking its labour force, forcing the country to intensify its efforts to attract large, young and vibrant immigrants by offering immigration-friendly policies.
The country landed 437,120 Permanent Residents (PRs) in 2022, a nearly eight percent increase from the total number of PRs in 2021, according to data from the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.
For Nigeria, it grew by 41.9 percent to 22,130 last year from 15,595 in the previous year.
Last year, the Canadian federal government announced an aggressive plan to take in 500,000 immigrants a year by 2025, with almost 1.5 million new immigrants coming to the country over the next three years.
“We’re enthusiastic about the ambitious goals we have set in immigration because they aren’t just about numbers—they are strategic. With this strategy, we’re targeting newcomers that can help enshrine Canada as a world leader in a variety of emerging technologies,” Fraser said.
Last month, Canada announced new measures to make it easier for families of recent immigrants to relocate to the country just a few days after the UK said it was restricting foreign students from bringing their families into the country starting next year.
That same month, the country announced that its express entry was now implementing a category-based selection to help tackle labour shortages and boost the economy.