News

IMF boss urges support for poorest countries

Published

1 year ago

April 13, 2023

Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director, International Monetary Fund (IMF) has called on the international community to support the world’s poorest countries.

Georgieva said this should be done by helping to close a funding gap facing the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust ((PRGT), the Fund’s main instrument to support low-income countries with interest-free loans.

She said this at the High-Level Roundtable Discussion on Low-Income Countries’ Challenges and Concessional Financing at the World Bank/IMF 2023 Spring Meetings in Washington D.C.

Georgieva said that low-income countries had been impacted severely by multiple economic shocks in recent years.

She explained that these countries’ per-capita income was expected to rise at the slowest pace since 1990, hindering their aspirations to catch up with richer economies.

“This puts them in danger of further divergence unless we act,” she said.

Georgieva said since the start of the pandemic, the IMF had provided 24 billion dollars in support through the PRGT, alleviating people’s suffering and preventing instability from spreading beyond borders.

However, she said higher international interest rates had raised the cost of borrowing and increased the funding shortfall.

“As an urgent first step, what I call for is to close the subsidy gap by providing pledges of 1.6 billion dollars, and we need 4.7 billion dollars to close the loan resource gap.

“Remember, every one dollar of subsidy mobilises five dollars of zero-interest loans, and that is what countries rely on for us to be able to support them.

“We have to work together to close this gap and I have no doubt that we will be successful,” she said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the World Bank Group/IMF 2023 Spring Meeting opened on Monday in Washington DC and will end on April 16.

News

Woman killed while crossing road in Anambra

Published

14 hours ago

April 18, 2024

Fellow Press

The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Anambra State Sector Command, has confirmed the death of a woman in an accident at Okpoko Market on the Asaba-Onitsha Road.

The Sector Commander, Mr Adeoye Irelewuyi, who confirmed the accident to journalists in Awka on Thursday, said that the woman was hit while she was crossing the road.

He said that the accident, which occurred on Wednesday, involved a commercial tow truck with registration number XA550BMA.

“Eyewitness report reaching us indicates that the truck was towing a vehicle in an uncontrollable speed along the axis.

“The vehicle that was being towed got detached from the tow truck.

“It hit and killed a female adult, who was said to be crossing the road, while the tow truck continued its movement.

“FRSC rescue team came to the scene and took the woman to Toronto Hospital, Onitsha, where she was confirmed dead and her body deposited at the hospital’s mortuary,” he said.

While sympathising with the family of the dead, the sector commander urged motorists, especially tow truck drivers, to exercise a high level of professionalism.

He also urged the drivers to always use standard equipment and avoid speeding.

News

LASG’s maize palliative impactful, says poultry association chair

Published

14 hours ago

April 18, 2024

Desmond Ukafor

The Chairman, Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN), Lagos State Chapter, Mr Mojeed Iyiola, said the state government’s maize palliative to members of the association made a positive impact on the sector.

Iyiola said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Lagos.

“We received about 150,000 tons of maize in February from the Lagos State government as palliative to cushion the effect of high feed prices.

“The major benefit of the palliative is that it actually cushioned the cost of production for most poultry farmers in the state.

“The palliative was beneficial as it made the cost of some poultry produce, especially eggs to drop,” Iyiola said.

He noted that prior to the palliative, a crate of egg was sold between N3,500 and N3,700 at the farm gate, but after the palliative, it now sells between N3,200 and N3,400.

According to the PAN chair, retailers and middlemen who sell from N3,800 to N4,200 do that for their personal gain.

“We have urged our members to sell their eggs at reasonable prices following the receipt of the palliative from the government.

“We appreciate the Lagos State government for the palliative but we also urge the federal government to do likewise, to further reduce the cost of production in the sector.

“This will consequently lead to drop in the prices of all poultry produce across board,” he said.

He said the palliative was shared among financial members of the association at no extra cost.

“As an association we shared the grains equally across PAN’s eight zones in the state equally. We also mandated each zone not the sell even a grain of the maize.

“We, however, considered new poultry farmers who wanted to the join the association as beneficiaries of the palliative,” said Iyiola.

He noted that through the palliative, more poultry farmers were recruited into the association.

“The maize was shared only to poultry farmers and not feed millers, it is the major component of poultry feed formulation,” he said.