By Jonathan Ugbal
Information made available to CrossRiverWatch from the Federal Ministry of Finance, shows that Cross River State has received the final tranche of the Paris Club refund since March 2019.
The refunds are for the over deductions made over a period of seven years and Finance Minister, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, in a recent briefing in Abuja said the sums for each of the 36 States have been verified by the Ministry as the outstanding balance.
It is unclear exactly what Cross River got, but, Mrs. Ahmed had said the total sum to be disbursed in the final tranche is NGN649.43.
“For the final phase of the Paris Club debts refunds, the total sum of N649.434bn was verified by the Ministry as the outstanding balance to be refunded to the state governments.
“The payments made by the Central Bank of Nigeria as of March 2019 is N691.56bn. The increase in CBN payments partly arose from the exchange rate differential at the point of payment. Although some states still have outstanding balances, they will be refunded in due course,” the Punch quoted her as saying.
NB: The Headline as well as para three and four have been edited to reflect most recent developments.