The World Bank has pledged to provide technical support to Nigeria in critical areas to facilitate the country’s economic growth and development.
The World Bank’s Vice-President for Africa, Hafez Ghanem, stated this when he paid a visit to the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udo Udoma on Thursday, according to a statement by the ministry.
Ghanem said the technical support will cover areas such as the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP), mid-term review, power sector reform, public-private partnerships (PPPs), and population management.
He said apart from tracking the ERGP delivery, the World Bank will also focus on performance tracking and reporting, capacity building for sector officials, economic modelling for policy analysis and forecasting, and Nigeria’s social investment programme.
According to the statement, Ghanem noted that it would be difficult for Africa, as a whole, to grow if Nigeria is not growing.
The World Bank chief said he would arrange for Nigeria to have an opportunity to speak about its economic progress at the annual meetings of the World Bank/International Monetary Fund (WB/IMF) scheduled to take place in Indonesia.
In his remarks, Udoma said with the introduction of the ERGP, Nigeria’s economic decline has been reversed, and the country had exited recession.
He expressed appreciation for the support of the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), and other development partners in executing the ERGP and appealed to the IFC to fulfil its promise to provide funding support for some projects identified during the ERGP Focus Labs.