Minister of Finance, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, yesterday cleared the air on issue of the last tranche of Paris Club refunds, saying the sum of N691.560 billion had already been disbursed to states since March 2019 by Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), after verification

The clarification followed some media reports last weekend that the federal government was set to release N691.560 billion as outstanding and final payment of Paris Club refunds to states.

Addressing a press conference in Abuja last Thursday, Ahmed had stated: “For the final phase of the Paris Club debt refunds, the total sum of N649.434 billion was verified by the ministry as the outstanding balance to be refunded to the state governments. The payments made by CBN as at March 2019, is N691.560 billion. The increase in CBN payments partly arose from exchange rate differential at the point of payment. Although, some states still have outstanding balances, which will be refunded, in due course,” she had said.

However, in a statement issued in Abuja, yesterday by her media aide, Mr Paul Abechi, the minister noted that there is no longer any outstanding tranche of Paris Club refunds to be disbursed to states, “because the money has already been disbursed in March 2019.”

According to the statement, Ahmed’s clarification became necessary “following news making the rounds in the media that soon states will receive disbursement of outstanding balance of the Paris Club debts on verification made amounting to a total sum of N691.560 billion by the ministry due to exchange rate differential at the point of payment instead of the total sum of N649.434 billion verified.”

Thisday