COVID-19 Stimulus: FG Approves N2.3trillion To Cushion Lockdown Effect

The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, has disclosed thy Federal Executive Council, FEC has approved the sum of N2.3trillion as COVID-19 stimulus plan.

The Minister said  the decision was made during the virtual meeting of the FEC presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday.

She said,

"The total package that we presented today is in the sum of N2.3 trillion, N500billion of this is a stimulus package that is already provided for in the amended in the 2020 Appropriations Act. These are funds that we have sourced from special accounts.

“We also have N1.2 trillion of these funds to be sourced as structured low-cost loans which are intervention from the Central Bank of Nigeria as well as other development partners and institutions."

It was gathered that the approval followed the recommendation of the Vice President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo-led Economic Sustainability Committee.

She added,

“There is a strategy that has been adopted and this whole plan is to enable us to respond to the triple problem of the low exchange rate, youth unemployment as well as negative growth which is facing us now."

The Minister further explained the COVID-19 outbreak had serious impact on the private industries, transportation sector and the government is set out plans to provide support for businesses that have suffered severe impacts due to the lockdown in the country