National Economic Council Approves $4.5b Crude Oil Backed Loan Refinance for NNPC: Facilit

The National Economic Council (NEC) has approved the refinancing of NNPC Limited's $3.3 billion oil-backed pre-export finance facility through a new $4.5 billion arrangement. According to a report by Bloomberg quoting Presidency source, the facility is aimed at strengthening the country's external reserves and freeing up funds for infrastructure. The new facility dubbed "Project Gazelle 2", will refinance approximately $1.5 billion outstanding ⁠under the original 2023 deal while unlocking an additional $3 billion in liquidity, the report said. It added that "the refinancing comes as Nigeria seeks to shore up its foreign reserves and fund fiscal priorities amid persistent pressure on the naira currency and efforts to attract foreign investment through economic reforms ⁠launched by President Bola Tinubu's administration". According to the report, Finance Minister, Taiwo Oyedele, told the NEC that the new terms of the facility were more favourable than the original facility, with pledged crude ⁠oil volumes cut 12.5% to roughly 78,750 barrels per day from 90,000 bpd. This would free up resources for strategic ⁠national priorities while improving Nigeria's financing structures. Vice President Kashim Shettima, who chairs the NEC, said government policies ⁠were ultimately measured by their impact on food prices, healthcare, education and household welfare, the report added. Read the original article on Vanguard . AllAfrica publishes around 600 reports a day from more than 90 news organizations and over 500 other institutions and individuals , representing a diversity of positions on every topic. We publish news and views ranging from vigorous opponents of governments to government publications and spokespersons. Publishers named above each report are responsible for their own content, which AllAfrica does not have the legal right to edit or correct. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica . To address comments or complaints, please Contact us . AllAfrica is a voice of, by and about Africa - aggregating, producing and distributing 600 news and information items daily from over 90 African news organizations and our own reporters to an African and global public. We operate from Cape Town, Dakar, Abuja, Johannesburg, Nairobi and Washington DC. Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy . We need to confirm your email address. To complete the process, please follow the instructions in the email we just sent you. There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later.