•CBN, Zenith Bank back mining plant
China has offered Nigeria a $6 billion loan to fund infrastructure projects, Minister of Foreign Affairs Geoffrey Onyeama told reporters on President Muhammadu Buhari’s delegation, according to Reuters.
“It is a credit that is on the table as soon as we identify the projects,” Onyeama said, adding: “It won’t need an agreement to be signed; it is just to identify the projects and we access it.”
Also yesterday, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd (ICBC) , the world’s biggest lender, and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) signed an agreement on yuan transactions, a Chinese Foreign Ministry official said.
“It means that the renminbi (yuan) is free to flow among different banks in Nigeria and the renminbi has been included in the foreign exchange reserves of Nigeria,” Lin Songtian, director general of the Foreign ministry’s African Affairs department, told reporters.
The agreement was reached following a meeting between President Muhammadu Buhari and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The CBN and Zenith Bank yesterday backed the Memorandum of Understanding signed between a Nigerian company and a Chinese firm to establish a mining plant in Nigeria this year.
