{"id":16942,"date":"2019-10-19T15:50:43","date_gmt":"2019-10-19T15:50:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.com\/nigeria\/?p=16942"},"modified":"2019-10-19T15:50:43","modified_gmt":"2019-10-19T15:50:43","slug":"imf-states-position-on-nigerias-border-closure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/imf-states-position-on-nigerias-border-closure","title":{"rendered":"IMF states position on Nigeria\u2019s border closure"},"content":{"rendered":"

The International Monetary Fund<\/a> (IMF) has backed Nigeria\u2019s closure of its borders with some neighbouring countries over issues bordering on illegal trade.<\/p>\n

Mr Abebe Selassie, the Director of the African Department at the IMF, gave the position at a media briefing on the sidelines of the World Bank\/IMF Annual Meetings in Washington.<\/p>\n

He was responding to a question on weather the closure negates the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA).<\/p>\n

Selassie said although free trade was critical to economic growth of the continent, it must be legal and in line with agreements.<\/p>\n

\u201dOn the border closure in Nigeria which has been impacting Benin and Niger, our understanding is that the action reflects concerns about smuggling that has been taking place.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is about illegal trade, which is not what you want to facilitate,\u2019\u2019 Selassie said.<\/p>\n

He said the IMF was hoping for a speedy resolution of the issues as the action was already taking a toll on the economies of the country\u2019s neighbours.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are very hopeful that discussions will resolve the challenges that this illegal trade is posing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the border closure is to be sustained for a long time, it will definitely have an impact on Benin and Niger which, of course, rely quite extensively on the big brother next door,\u2019\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, said the borders were closed to curb illegal trading activities by Nigeria\u2019s neighbours.<\/p>\n

Ahmed said the closure would remain in force until the country secured the commitment of its neighbours to trade agreements and treaties signed with them.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the IMF director said the AfCFTA was one of the most exciting policy developments in the region in recent months.<\/p>\n

Selassie said analyses by the Fund showed that the initiative had a \u201ctremendous potential to facilitate higher economic growth\u2019\u2019.<\/p>\n

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the IMF projected a region wide economic growth of 3.2 per cent in 2019.<\/p>\n

Selassie said the, \u201chard task\u2019\u2019 before African nations was making sure the AfCFTA was fully implemented \u201cto facilitate the trade that we need to see between countries in the region\u2019\u2019.<\/p>\n

The IMF director also commented on the continent\u2019s high debt burden, especially from China, resulting largely from borrowing to balance budget deficits.<\/p>\n

He explained that the Fund was not particularly wary of China, which he said \u201chas been a very important development partner for many countries in sub-Saharan Africa\u2019\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are some counties that have borrowed extensively, and this is not just from China but from all other sources of financing either through Euro bond, domestic markets or other sources of capital.<\/p>\n

\u201c Yes, there are countries that have borrowed beyond what they can quickly pay, but it is important that we get this story straight.<\/p>\n

\u201cChina has been a very important partner for many countries and remains so.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur concern really is more about overall debt level, not just about debt but some other things.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne is, once you have borrowed money to invest in infrastructure, health and education, it is important you are able to capture the rate of return on that investment so that the debt can be serviced.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat you put the debt to and how effective the investment projects that you are undertaking is really the important part of the equation,\u2019\u2019 Selassie said.<\/p>\n

He added that it was also important for countries to address their \u201ctremendous development needs avoiding debts becoming unsustainable\u2019\u2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has backed Nigeria\u2019s closure of its borders with some neighbouring countries over issues bordering on illegal trade. Mr Abebe Selassie, the Director of the African Department at the IMF, gave the position at a media briefing on the sidelines of the World Bank\/IMF Annual Meetings in Washington. He was responding […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":8269,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,15],"tags":[730,566,868],"class_list":["post-16942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","tag-afcfta","tag-imf","tag-monetary-policy"],"yoast_head":"\nIMF states position on Nigeria\u2019s border closure - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has backed Nigeria\u2019s closure of its borders with some neighbouring countries over issues bordering on illegal trade.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/imf-states-position-on-nigerias-border-closure\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"IMF states position on Nigeria\u2019s border closure\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has backed Nigeria\u2019s closure of its borders with some neighbouring countries over issues bordering on illegal trade.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/imf-states-position-on-nigerias-border-closure\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-10-19T15:50:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/2019\/04\/1200px-International_Monetary_Fund_logo.svg_.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1223\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"alico\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"alico\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/imf-states-position-on-nigerias-border-closure#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/imf-states-position-on-nigerias-border-closure\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"alico\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/50afd2ef4f0e900bd0a176404a8484a7\"},\"headline\":\"IMF states position on Nigeria\u2019s border closure\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-10-19T15:50:43+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/imf-states-position-on-nigerias-border-closure\"},\"wordCount\":585,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/imf-states-position-on-nigerias-border-closure#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/2019\/04\/1200px-International_Monetary_Fund_logo.svg_.png\",\"keywords\":[\"AfCFTA\",\"IMF\",\"Monetary Policy\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Economy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/imf-states-position-on-nigerias-border-closure#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/imf-states-position-on-nigerias-border-closure\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/imf-states-position-on-nigerias-border-closure\",\"name\":\"IMF states position on Nigeria\u2019s border closure - 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