Nigeria and Saudi Arabia on Friday agreed to a series of investment and cooperation deals, including a pledge by the Saudi government to invest in the revamp of Nigeria’s oil refineries and provide financial support to sustain the government’s foreign-exchange reforms.
The agreements were reached at a bilateral meeting between Nigerian President Bola Tinubu and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on the sidelines of the Saudi-Africa summit in Riyadh.
Under Tinubu, Nigeria has embarked on the boldest reforms in decades, scrapping a popular petrol subsidy and unifying the country’s multiple exchange rates as part of measures “aimed at improving the ease of doing business.”
But liquidity has yet to return to the official currency market with the naira quoted at a premium on the parallel market.
Information Minister Mohammed Idris said the Saudi government pledged to make “a substantial deposit of foreign exchange to boost Nigeria’s forex liquidity”.
In addition, the Saudi government, through Saudi Aramco , will invest in the revamp of Nigeria’s four decrepit state refineries which is expected to be completed within two- to-three years, Idris said. Nigeria is seeking more investments to revive an economy plagued by foreign-currency shortages, double-digit inflation, widespread insecurity and theft of crude oil, its key export.
Africa’s top oil exporter has made producing its fuels a priority for years but efforts to revamp its refineries have failed, leaving it reliant on imports.—Zawya
