From the 2014 fiscal year, Nigeria would gradually move to a ‘Blend’ country status.

What this means is that the country would not only be able to continue to access resources from the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) concessional window, but would start accessing from the bank’s International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) window.

World Bank’s country representative; Marie Francoise Marie-Nelly, says under the ‘Blend’ status, Nigeria would still have access to IDA funding with a maturity period of 25 years, and a grace period of five years and would be able to receive IBRD credit which also has a maturity period of up to 25 years.

During this time, Nigeria would enter into what is commonly called a transition period whose duration varies from country to country.

This ‘Blend’ status would be captured in the bank’s third country partnership strategy (CPS 111) document with an implementation period of 2014-2017.