FG secures $ 3b emergency loan
By Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia
The Federal Government, through the Nigeria National Petroleum Company, NNPC Limited, said it had signed a Commitment Letter and Term Sheet with AfreximBank for an emergency $3 billion crude oil repayment loan to stabilize the Naira which has been on a free fall since President Bola Ahmed Tinubu took over power.
NNPC, in a statement Wednesday, said the agreement was jointly signed by both parties at the bank’s headquarters in Cairo, Egypt.
According to the statement, the loan facility “will provide some immediate disbursement that will enable the NNPC Ltd to support the Federal Government in its ongoing fiscal and monetary policy reforms aimed at stabilizing the exchange rate market”.
Sources at the oil company said Nigeria had been recording under production of crude oil in the recent times.
This, according to the sources, has resulted in sharp drop in the oil revenue accruing to the country.
The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, NUPRC, confirmed that production averaged 1.08 million barrels of crude per day.
This was less than 1.25mbpd recorded in June, according to statistics from NUPRC .
Nigeria has a production target of 1.69 million barrels per day in the 2023 budget.
The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC quota for Nigeria, according to findings by Ikengaonline, is 1.7 million barrels of crude oil per day.
Inflation rate has hit over 24% , the highest in a decade.
Nigerians of all classes have been complaining bitterly of economic hardship following the removal of fuel subsidy which resulted into a sharp hike in fuel pump price.
Petrol sells for between N595 and N620 in different parts of the country, with speculations that there could be further increase in the price of the essential commodity.
The organised Labour has threatened to embark on a nation- wide lockdown without warning should petrol price be reviewed upwards again.
The Federal Government, has however, assured there would be no further hike in fuel price any time soon.
