World Bank Disburses $1.45 Billion States Loan to Federal Government

The World Bank recently revealed that it has disbursed $1.45 billion from the $1.5 billion States Fiscal Transparency, Accountability, and Sustainability Programme fund to the Treasury of the Federal Government.

The amount received on December 12, 2023, is meant to help the state governments achieve fiscal transparency and accountability.

The World Bank also revealed plans to extend the program's end date to April 2024 to deepen the sustainability strategy's implementation further. This was disclosed on Wednesday in a document from the bank.

The World Bank said the payment was made in two tranches: $737.13 million and $717.51 million.

The document released did not disclose the amount issued by the government to its sub-nationals under the program.

As of August 2022, Zainab Ahmed, the former Minister of Finance, Budget, and National Planning, revealed that the federal government had disbursed N471.9 billion to states.

The SFTAS Programme started on June 27, 2018, intending to offer performance-based funds and technical assistance to states to implement the 22-point Fiscal Sustainability Plan and the Open Government Partnership.

The program's goal is to encourage states to improve outcomes in four key areas: fiscal transparency and accountability, strengthening domestic revenue mobilization, raising the effectiveness of public spending, and strengthening debt sustainability.

It was also revealed that a total of $1.5 billion was committed to the project in two batches of $750 million (December 2018 and December 2020) by the World Bank, The PUNCH reports.

However, the money is a grant to state governments and a loan to the Federal Government.