IMF is not bad, but we don’t need their loan - Finance Minister

Kemi Adeosun, minister of finance, says the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is not bad, but Nigeria does not need the fund’s borrowing programme.


In an interview with CNBC Africa,  Adeosun said the IMF loan programme has made a “huge national debate,” but the country see IMF as its last resort.

“For us, the IMF is really lender of last resort when you have balance of payments problem. Nigeria doesn’t have balance of payments problems per se, it has a fiscal problem, which is that major revenue source has lost so much value,” Adeosun said.

“What IMF does for you is that it gives you programmes for reforms, we are already doing as much reform as any IMF programme would impose on Nigeria.

“Nigerians want to take responsibility for their future. We must have our home-grown, home-designed programme of reform, that Nigerians take ownership for,  because they are painful reforms.

“When you go through this type of adjustment of your economy, these reforms are very painful, and they have to be home-grown. We have to take responsibility for this ourselves, so that when it succeeds, Nigerians would say; yes, we did this.

“I am not saying the IMF are bad, but I’m saying right now, we don’t see that need. we feel this is a problem Nigerians created and Nigerians will solve.

Adeosun added that the World Bank has not agreed to lend Nigeria $2.5 billion as being reported, but stated that the country has enough funds to meet what it needs

She said the country is looking to raise funds from Nigeria’s “deep domestic market” before moving out of the country to get other funds needed.

Adeosun said Nigeria is satisfied with the rate at which its last Eurobond was traded, despite criticism from experts.

“It was within the range of what we were expecting to attain. If you look at our fundamentals and how the market was trading,” she said.

The minister said that the Eurobond will be going into projects from the 2016 budget.