Glossary -- Nigeria
- fiscal year (FY)
- An annual period established for accounting purposes. Through
FY 1979-80 the Nigerian government's fiscal year ran from April 1
to the following March 31. The latter fiscal year was succeeded
by a nine-month FY 1980 that ended December 31, 1980. From
January 1, 1981, the fiscal year was made coterminous with the
calendar year.
- GDP (gross domestic product)
- A value measure of the flow of domestic goods and services
produced by an economy over a period of time, such as a year.
Only output values of goods for final consumption and for
intermediate production are assumed to be included in final
prices. GDP is sometimes aggregated and shown at market prices,
meaning that indirect taxes and subsidies are included; when
these have been eliminated, the result is GDP at factor cost. The
word gross indicates that deductions for depreciation of
physical assets have not been made.
- GNP (gross national product)
- GDP (q.v.) plus the net income or loss stemming from
transactions with foreign counties. GNP is the broadest
measurement of the output of goods and services by an economy. It
can be calculated at market prices, which include indirect taxes
and subsidies. Because indirect taxes and subsidies are only
transfer payments, GNP is often calculated at a factor cost,
removing indirect taxes and subsidies.
- International Monetary Fund
(IMF)
- Established along with the World Bank (q.v.) in
1945, the IMF is a specialized agency affiliated with the United
Nations and is responsible for stabilizing international exchange
rates and payments. The main business of the IMF is the provision
of loans to its members (including industrialized and developing
countries) when they experience balance of payments difficulties.
These loans frequently carry conditions that require substantial
internal economic adjustments by the recipients, most of which
are developing countries.
- Lomé Convention
- A series of agreements between the European Economic
Community (EEC) and a group of African, Caribbean, and Pacific
(ACP) states, mainly former Euopean colonies, that provide duty-
free or preferential access to the EEC maket for almost all ACP
exports. The Stabilization of Export Earnings (Stabex) scheme, a
mechanism set up by the Lomé Convention; provides for
compensation for ACP export lost thorugh fluctuations in the
world prices of agricultural commodities. The Lomé Convention
also provides for limited EEC development aid and investment
funds to be disbursed to ACP recipients thourgh the European
Development Fund and the European Investment Bank. The Lomé
Convention is updated about every five years. Lomé I, took effect
on April 1, 1976; Lomé II, on January 1, 1981; Lomé III, on March
1, 1985; and Lomé IV, on December 15, 1989.
- middle belt
- Traditionally an ethnic and political zone stretching from
east to west across the central section of Nigeria and inhabited
by many minor ethnic groups who had been unable to obtain
significant political influence because of long-term dominance by
the Hausa-Fulani and Kanuri emirates. As used by economists and
geographers, the term does not always coincide with ethnic and
political divisions but usually designates the area between the
characteristic northern and southern economies; in this context
the area extends roughly from 7o30'N to
11oN. Since the civil war of 1967-70 and the
replacement of the former administrative regions by states, use
of the term has diminished among Nigerians who wish to downplay
the regional connotation formerly attached to it.
- naira (N)
- Nigeria's basic currency unit. It is subdivided into 100 kobo
(k). The naira was introduced on January 1, 1973, replacing the
Nigerian pound (q.v.) at the rate of two naira for one
pound. At that time N1 equaled US$1.52. The naira subsequently
lost value against the dollar; average exchange rate in 1990:
N8.04 per US$1.00.
- Nigerian pound (N£)
- Basic currency unit until January 1, 1973, when it was
replaced by the naira (q.v.). N£1 was valued at US$2.80
until December 1971; thereafter N£1 equaled US$3.04.
- Paris Club
- The informal name for a consortium of Western creditor
countries that have made loans or have guaranteed export credits
to developing nations and that meet in Paris to discuss
borrowers' ability to repay debts. The organizaiton has no formal
or institutional existence and no fixed membership. Its
secretariat is run by the French treasury, and it has a close
relationship with the World Bank (q.v.), the
International Monetary Fund (q.v.), and the United
Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
- Sahel
- A narrow band of land bordering the southern Sahara,
stretching across Africa, and including northern Nigeria. It is
characterized by an average annual rainfall of between 150 and
500 millimeters and is mainly suited to pastoralism.
- Special Drawing Right(s)
- A monetary unit of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)
(q.v.) based on a basket of international currencies
consisting of the United States dollar, the German deutschmark,
the Japanese yen, the British pound sterling, and the French
franc.
- Sudan
- Geographical region (northern reaches now more commonly
referred to as the Sahel) stretching across Africa from Cape
Verde on the Atlantic Coast to the Red Sea between 8o
and 16o north latitude, just south of the Sahara
Desert, characterized by savanna and semiarid steppe. Term
derived from Arabic bilad as sudan (literally "land of
the blacks"). Not to be confused with Sudan, the country.
- World Bank
- Informal name used to designate a group of three affiliated
international institutions: the International Bank for
Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), the International
Development Association (IDA), and the International Finance
Corporation (IFC). The IBRD, established in 1945, has the primary
purpose of providing loans to developing countries for productive
projects. The IDA, a legally separate loan fund but administered
by the staff of the IBRD, was set up in 1960 to furnish credits
to the poorest developing countries on much easier terms than
those of conventional IBRD loans. The IFC, founded in 1956,
supplements the activities of the IBRD through loans and
assistance specifically designed to encourage the growth of
productive private enterprises in the less developed countries.
The president and certain senior officers of the IBRD hold the
same positions in the IFC. The three institutions are owned by
the governments of the countries that subscribe their capital. To
participate in the World Bank group, member states must first
belong to the International Monetary Fund (IMF--q.v.).
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