Federal Government on Sunday said it had opened discussions with the United Kingdom on the possibility of raising “Jollof Bond’ to finance the national budget.
The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, also said the $3bn loan request for the expansion of the power transmission and distribution networks in the industry had finally approved by the World Bank.
The minister said this while addressing journalists on the outcome of Nigeria’s participation at the annual meetings of the World Bank/International Monetary Fund in Washington DC. The Jollof Bonds are bonds issued offshore, but denominated in local currency.
The importance of such a transaction to a country is that it protects the issuing country from exchange rate exposure. Ahmed said apart from the UK government, the Federal Government had also received proposals from Deutsche Bank of Netherlands as well as the World Bank on the need for naira denominated bond.
Punch