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From Uche Usim, Abuja
States across the federation are to enjoy a $1.5 billion grant through the States Fiscal Transparency Accountability and Sustainability (SFTAS) programme meant to promote fiscal prudence and transparency.
The SFTAS National Programme Coordinator (NPC), Mr. Stephen Okon, made the disclosure at the weekend in Abuja at a workshop for finance journalists.
The journey to SFTAS began when the Federal Government took a concessional loan of $750 million from the World Bank with a view to guarantee the sustained implementation of fiscal reform at the sub-national level over a period of four years (2018-2022).
SFTAS itself is a World Bank-assisted Programme for Results (PforR), with a system of performance-based grants to States, to be enjoyed only when set criteria are met and specified indicators have been ticked.
SFTAS was approved by the World Bank in June 2018 and became effective in May 2019.
Speaking further, Okon noted that the original $750 million loan comprised two components: the performance-based grants from Federal Government to States ($700 million) for states achieving the Annual Eligibility Criteria and the Disbursement Linked Indicators (DLIs), which is the programme results.
