Chief Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led federal government is seeking an additional $2 billion crude oil-backed loan from international creditors to boost its financial inflow.
Sources familiar with the matter disclosed that the loan is being sought to augment the country’s finances, which have been strained in recent times.
Reuters reported on Tuesday that the Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mele Kyari, confirmed the development. Kyari stated that the national oil company is in talks with international creditors to raise an oil-backed credit facility.
This move follows the recent revelation that NNPC is struggling to pay international oil traders a backlog of $6 billion, amid the removal of the fuel subsidy.
Kyari assured that the credit facility would help boost the corporation’s finances and allow for investment in the oil and gas sector. However, he did not disclose the international financial body with which NNPC is in talks, nor the amount it plans to raise from the transaction.
According to Kyari, the funds raised will be used for all of NNPC’s business activities, including supporting production growth.
“We have no problem covering our gasoline payments. This is just money for normal business and not a desperate act,” Kyari stated. “It will be a syndication with critical but regular partners who have been in business with our company to forward the cash.”
It is worth noting that NNPC already holds a $3.3 billion oil-backed loan from Afreximbank.
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