By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Nigeria has secured a credit facility of $750 million from the World Bank to help its 36 states implement critical economic reforms aimed at attracting investment and creating employment for the country’s teeming young population reeling in labour market, the bank announced on Thursday.
The World Bank says Nigeria had made progress in improving the ease of doing business, but that the country’s ability to attract domestic and foreign investment remained low compared with others.
“Private sector investments remain the major vehicle to create more jobs, increase revenues to the states and improve social and economic outcomes for citizens,” the World Bank’s Country Director for Nigeria, Shubham Chaudhuri, said in a statement.
Several states in Nigeria struggle to pay salaries due to low revenues and resort to borrowing from the domestic bond market and banks to fund infrastructure projects.
It is expected that the $750 million credit would improve land administration, telecommunications infrastructure, public-private partnerships, investment promotion and the business regulatory environment, the World Bank said.
