Buhari approves withdrawal of $150m from Sovereign Wealth Fund

President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday approved the withdrawal of $150 million from the Sovereign Wealth Fund for immediate distribution to the three tiers of government across the country.

The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, made this known in Abuja during a chat with journalists.

Ahmed explained that the measure became imperative to enable federal, state as well as local governments to meet up with their obligations, explaining the fund would help address emergencies.

She said: “Monthly federation accounts disbursements to the federal governments and the state government are ideally projected to have been N888 billion. Due to the significant drop in crude oil prices, FAAC monthly disbursements have declined in recent months to 716 billion in January, N647 billion in February and further down to N581 billion in March 2020.

“Our experience shows that monthly average FAAC receipts should be at N650 billion to allow the federal and state government to meet their current obligations in a healthy manner.

“Unfortunately, we project that monthly receipts may decline to as low as N400 billion over the next three to six months. To address this emerging fiscal risks, the president has approved that the sum of $150 million be withdrawn from the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority stabilisation fund to support the June 2020 FAAC disbursements.

“The fund was created for such emergencies and is to be utilised for this purpose.”