Nigeria seeking World Bank loan Published duration 1 February 2016

image copyright AFP image caption Nigeria is seeking to move away from a reliance on oil

Nigeria is holding talks with the World Bank to help it fund a forecast $11bn (£7.7bn) budget deficit.

However, Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun said in a statement that it was not applying for an "emergency loan".

Nigeria is believed to be looking for around $3.5bn from the World Bank and the African Development Bank.

Africa's largest economy has been hit hard by the recent fall in oil prices, and the government needs to find new sources of income to fund its budget.

Last year's government budget was largely financed by oil revenue.

Ms Adeosun said that "Nigeria, as a member of World Bank group is entitled to access available funds like every member-country," but she is also looking at the domestic market as a means to get finance.

"No application for loans have been made. We are simply discussing options for funding [the] 2016 budget," she added.

Analysis: Lerato Mbele, BBC Africa Business Report

image copyright Reuters image caption President Muhammadu Buhari said in December that more investment would go into infrastructure

A major concern for Nigeria is that more than 55 years after independence, oil revenues are still being used to support the day-to-day activities of the government, rather than being used for investment.

President Muhammadu Buhari is trying to adjust the public finances and whether he achieves this will be one of the ways his term in office will be judged.

For now, the government will continue its consultations with the international partners, which started earlier this year with a visit by International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde.

By their assessments, Nigeria's economy will slow down in 2016 but growth may still come in at 3.2%, which is a positive in the face of global volatility.

So, in effect whilst the situation in Nigeria is clearly serious, some would say Nigeria is not yet in a crisis mode.

Because of that, nobody is using the word bailout which would suggest that the country is almost bankrupt.

Chief Africa economist for Standard Chartered bank Razia Khan told the BBC that going to the World Bank could be attractive as it may offer Nigeria better terms for a loan than it would get from the international money markets.

Nigeria is deliberately boosting spending on infrastructure development to try to boost the economy as it tries to deal with the oil price shock, she added.