Browsing: Coronavirus cases in Abuja

Nigeria, Africa’s populous and largest economy is planning to raise about $6.9 billion from various multilateral lenders to assist their efforts towards curbing the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

According to information from Bloomberg, the nation’s Finance Minister Zainab Ahmed told reporters Monday in the capital, Abuja that, the government will seek $3.4 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), $2.5 billion from the World Bank and a further $1 billion.

The highly contagious pandemic has hit the region’s largest economy hard as plummeting oil prices and capital flight threaten to push the economy into recession. Nigeria has reported over 230 cases of the coronavirus and 5 deaths so far.

Bloomberg reported that Fitch Ratings earlier on Monday followed S&P’s March 26 decision to downgrade Nigeria’s credit rating further into junk territory, citing its dependence on oil, which represent about half of the government revenue.

However, Nonso Obikili, head …