Nigeria is targeting seven per cent economic growth in 2027, Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister of the Economy Taiwo Oyedele has said, while ruling out a return to petrol subsidies and multiple exchange rates.
Oyedele spoke alongside Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Olayemi Cardoso at the closing press briefing of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank annual meetings in Bangkok, Thailand. He said the government’s priorities were to sustain economic reforms, reduce inflation and borrowing costs, attract investment and create jobs.
The growth target exceeds projections for Nigeria cited during the meetings. Oyedele said faster expansion would depend on policy consistency and measures to address food prices, energy costs, logistics and other pressures on households and businesses. He argued that reducing inflation to single digits would create room for lower interest rates and more affordable borrowing. “There will be no return to fresh subsidies, or multiple exchange rates,” he said.
Oyedele warned that reversing the reforms could undermine investor confidence, encourage capital flight and place renewed pressure on the naira. Addressing NNPC Limited’s recent reduction in petrol retail margins, he described it as a commercial decision rather than a publicly funded subsidy.
He said the company was seeking to attract customers through lower margins and could offset reduced earnings per litre with higher sales volumes. The minister also outlined Project Nigeria, an investment initiative comprising 65 projects with an estimated combined value of $78.5 billion.
The projects cover energy, transport, industry, mining, agriculture, healthcare and urban services. Oyedele said feasibility studies had been completed and prospective investors from Asia and Europe had expressed interest. The figure represents the estimated value of the project pipeline, rather than financing already secured or money invested. The projects still require investment commitments and implementation.
Both Oyedele and Cardoso emphasised that predictable policies were essential to converting investor interest into long-term commitments. Cardoso said recent economic indicators showed progress towards stability, citing headline inflation of 14.63 per cent in September 2026, compared with approximately 34.8 per cent at the end of 2024. He said external reserves had exceeded $55 billion, their highest level in about 18 years, while the Monetary Policy Rate had fallen from 26.5 per cent to 23 per cent as inflation moderated.
However, he stressed that bringing inflation into single digits remained a medium-term objective. Cardoso also said the gap between official and parallel foreign exchange rates had narrowed from a peak of approximately 60 per cent to between three and four per cent. He said the improvement had strengthened confidence and created better conditions for long-term financing in naira, potentially reducing the currency risks associated with foreign borrowing.
According to Cardoso, private capital inflows increased from about $300 million in 2023 to nearly $6 billion in 2026. He added that the banking sector’s recapitalisation exercise had raised approximately ₦4.65 trillion, with domestic investors contributing more than 70 per cent. Cardoso said stronger bank capital would improve lenders’ capacity to support businesses, households and major investment projects. Oyedele also called for reforms to the international financial system, arguing that developing economies faced borrowing costs that constrained investment in infrastructure, public services and employment.
He cited estimates that developing countries pay approximately $500 billion more annually to borrow than advanced economies, describing the additional burden as a “prejudice premium”. His proposals included greater representation for developing countries at the IMF, more transparent credit-rating processes, stronger local-currency capital markets and improved access to climate finance.
He also supported establishing an African credit-rating agency to provide assessments that better reflected the continent’s economic conditions and investment opportunities. On employment, Oyedele warned that artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies could create difficulties for countries that failed to prepare their workers. Estimates presented at the briefing suggested that 1.2 billion people could enter the global labour market over the next 10 to 15 years, against approximately 400 million new jobs, leaving a potential shortfall of 800 million.
Oyedele said economic progress should be judged by employment and living standards, alongside investment flows and gross domestic product growth. He called for greater investment in skills, technology and businesses capable of employing more people, while encouraging policies that spread the benefits of AI. Cardoso highlighted potential risks to financial stability and cybersecurity, saying Nigeria needed a strategy to capture productivity gains while protecting its financial system.
He said the CBN had invited AI specialists to brief its board on the technology’s opportunities and risks. The Nigerian delegation also discussed cooperation with international partners on power, infrastructure, fiscal management, transparency, statistics, healthcare, energy and financial integrity. The World Bank highlighted instruments that could support power and infrastructure projects, while the IMF indicated that technical assistance would continue in areas including fiscal implementation and statistics.
Other discussions involved the Japan International Cooperation Agency, Islamic Development Bank, US Treasury and European Union. Oyedele presented those engagements as commitments to continued cooperation rather than announcements of new funding. He said the government’s reforms needed to deliver tangible improvements for Nigerians and encouraged greater public understanding of the policies.
