The International Monetary Fund says it is ready to assist sub Saharan Africa’s (SSA) oil exporters cope with plumetting crude prices.
The lender however says it is yet to receive any new funding requests from the region.
IMF says ready to lend to African oil producers, no requests yet https://t.co/nTTmm2fN5B pic.twitter.com/r8UlUJDaVs
— BusinessDaily Africa (@BD_Africa) February 3, 2016
Instead, Africa’s top oil producers have turned to the World Bank for financing.
Nigeria which is facing an estimated $15 billion budget deficit in 2016, is currently looking to borrow up to $5 billion. The country has held discussions with the World Bank, African Development Bank and China’s Export-Import Bank.
#korea #thailand #mexico #greece FCKD next
lagardemt AlArabiya_Eng #IMF ready to lend #Africa #oil producers https://t.co/fhtZsISxJa— ormiga (@ormiga) February 3, 2016
Additionally, the World bank is discussing potential financing for Angola and Nigeria to support structural changes in an emerging market country’s economy and government institutions
“The sharp decline in oil prices represents a formidable shock on the oil exporting countries of sub-Saharan Africa, especially in view of their strong reliance on oil receipts for fiscal and external revenues,” an IMF spokeswoman said in a statement .
The spokeswoman added that with exception of Chad which already has a funding program in place prior to the oil price shock, the lender has not received any funding requests from oil exporting countries in SSA
On Tuesday, U.S. crude fell back below $30 a barrel, half its price in June 2015 and down from about $100 two years ago.
