The Federal Government has said about N1.8tn of its N2.3tn COVID-19 economic stimulus package would be funded by financial institutions.
It announced that about N288bn from the N500bn of the package funded through the 2021 budget has so far been released, adding the second batch is in the process of disbursement.
The Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Clem Agba, disclosed this on the side-lines of the National Steering Committee meeting of the Nigeria Open Government Partnership in Abuja.
Commenting on measures adopted to salvage the economy from collapse as a result of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the minister said the N2.3tn stimulus package had to be deployed.
“And there are basically two sources of funding the N2.3tn. The first N500bn had to come from special accounts, which were embedded in the revised budget,” he stated.
Agba added, “And then the other N1.8tn, which has programmes that were set up to be financed through the financial institutions.
“And we had negotiated a five per cent interest rates with a one year moratorium just to ensure that we are able to grow agriculture, look after the MSMEs and support the aviation sector.”
