The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said it stands ready to help sub-Saharan Africa’s oil exporters cope with plunging crude prices and growing fiscal pressures but has not received any new funding requests from the region, Daily Mail reported.
Nigeria, the largest African economy and largest crude exporter, instead have turned to the World Bank for assistance, even though the IMF is typically viewed as the world’s go-to crisis lender.
Also Angola asked for help and World Bank is discussing potential financing through a program to support structural changes in an emerging market country’s economy and government institutions.
The IMF said the 70% fall in crude prices over the past 18 months has been a “formidable shock” to sub-Saharan African oil exporters like Nigeria and Angola, given their heavy reliance on oil receipts in state revenues, according to The Economic Times.
The two sub-saharan African countries are the latest in what may become a long line of oil-exporting countries to seek financial assistance to help stem growing deficits as falling crude prices crush revenues. The IMF and World Bank are already talking to Azerbaijan about a $4b financing package.
When IMF managing director Christine Lagarde visited Nigeria in January to meet new President Muhammadu Buhari, she insisted that she was not there to negotiate a loan program. “Frankly, given the determination and resilience displayed by the presidency and his team, I don’t see why an IMF program is going to be needed,” she said at the time.
