Economic recession: AfDB disburses $600m budget support to FG

The Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, has said that the African Development Bank (AfDB)  has disbursed a budget support of 600 million dollars to Nigerian government when the country faced economic recession.
She said this at the commissioning of the bank’s complex on Thursday in Abuja. She said that AfDB-Nigeria Country Office over the years, under past and current leadership, had maintained an appreciable level of co-operation and collaborative engagement with the Federal Ministry of Finance.
She said that the improved relationship had led to an all-time high portfolio level of close to six billion dollars spread over 73 projects across other private sector. She said that the bank had made Nigeria the first regional member country to host the bank-owned office complex.
Adeosun said that the AfDB’s one billion dollars budget support loan, for which the country had drawn only 600 million dollars, came at the right time. She said the bank provided the lifeline at the time that it was difficult to secure budget support loan from anywhere, as the country struggled with the 2015 to 2016 economic recession.
According to her, about three months ago, the World Bank adjudged Nigeria to be one of the 10 most improved economies in the world in 2017, with regards to ease of doing business and investment climate.
The minister said that Nigeria, in particular, needed the AfDB and its programme of the High Five’s, which encompassed investing more in infrastructure, agriculture, education, healthcare and increased access to affordable energy and water. She said that the programmes of High Five’s favoured pro-poor growth and inclusive development, both of which were desperately needed on the continent.
Adeosun said that, in the area of addressing inequality, Nigeria had been much more creative about fostering the right kind of inclusive economic growth and human capital development. She said that with the continuing support of AfDB and indeed other partners, Nigeria would be made a more prosperous and inclusive country.
The President AfDB, Akinwumi Adesina, said that the new complex was the first that the bank had built outside its headquarters in Abijan, since inception in 1964. 
He said that Nigeria was the largest shareholder of the bank, and that the relationship between the bank and Nigeria was stable and dependable. According to him, the bank is not a fair whether partner; “we were there when it matter most, a partner in time of need is a partner indeed.