The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, on Thursday offered a cheering narrative of the state of the economy.
Briefing journalists at the end of the 160th National Economic Council meeting, held on Thursday, the Finance Minister declared that the economy has stabilised and the present administration would now shift its focus to conversion of the gains to shared prosperity.
The Finance Minister enumerated growth in Gross Domestic Product, reversal in inflation, soaring external reserves, a decline in debt service as a percentage of revenue and appreciable growth in Federation Account net revenues, to buttress his claim of economic stability, arising from bold economic reforms of the present administration.
He said: “The Nigerian economy has stabilized, and the task ahead of us now is to convert stability to shared prosperity, our real GDP growth rate was at 3.89% for Q1 of 2026, which is up on 3.13% one year ago, and it’s projected that our GDP growth rate for 2026 would be over 4%.
“Headline inflation is down to 15.43% at the end of July, from 24.94% a year ago. Although food inflation down, still elevated at 20. 31% at the end of July compared to 26.2% this time last year. External reserves are at $51.9 6 billion, higher since January 2009, and up 38% year on year. Naira has appreciated 13.5% year on year by the end of half year 2026, and exchange rate is now under N1,400, and is stable and steadily appreciating. Federation Account net revenues are up 44% from N15.2 trillion in 2024 to 21. 9 trillion in 2025. It’s projected to increase by at least 50% in 2026.
“Nigeria recorded trade surplus nearly doubled from 17.7 trillion in 2025 to N34.7 trillion by Q1 of 2026. Total public debt remains moderate at under 37% of GDP, amounting to N150. 8 trillion naira. Debt service as a percentage of revenue is on the decline from nearly 100% as of 2022 to less than 60% as of 2025.”
The Minister also disclosed recognition accorded the positive leap in the nation’s economy by the market rating agencies.
“All three major rating agencies: Fish, Moody’s, S&P. Nigeria’s sovereign credit rating between April 2025 and May 2026, the first coordinated alignment in over a decade. So they all agree. Nigeria has exited the Financial Action Task Force Grey Lease as of October 2025, and the EU Anti-Money Laundry Financing of Terrorism Deficiency Lease as of January 2026, lowering the cost and friction of cross-border capital and flows for Nigeria.
“The sovereign spread between the U.S. Treasury bonds and Nigeria’s euro bond narrowed to historic low of less than 200 basis points, and our capital market is one of the best performing in the world, with market capitalisation almost doubling just in the past one year.”
Oyedele told State House correspondents that FTSE Russell, a global provider of stock market indices and data analytics, has now announced that Nigeria has now been reclassified to frontier market. “This is good news for us as a country. We see opportunities ahead for the country, especially how we accelerate growth and lift our people out of poverty.”
According to him, the NEC also resolved to accelerate growth in agriculture, energy, manufacturing, mining, and the digital economy.
To remain on the trajectory of economic growth, Oyedele disclosed that NEC cautioned against policy reversals, which he tagged as “reform fatigue.”
“Council expressed concern about the high rates of interest, particularly for businesses, and directed that we look at fiscal and monetary policy measures to moderate these interest rates. There was a particular focus on staying the course of reform to avoid reversals. The gains on inflation reserves, the exchange rate, and a credit rating are the direct result of sustained consistency consistent policy. They are reversible if we waver. So we need to prevent reform fatigue, avoid populist reversal or election cycle slippage that could forfeit the credibility we have spent the past three years rebuilding. Government at every level agree, federal, state, and local governments that we need to hold the line on fiscal discipline as 2027 political activities intensify.”
The NEC also reaffirmed commitment to fiscal discipline.
Earlier in his presentation, Akwa Ibom Governor, Pastor Umo Eno, also revealed that the Council gave an update of account balances as at 26 August 2026.
He said: “The excess crude account balance is put at $535,823.
The stabilisation account stands at N90,950,700.556. And of course, the natural resources account stands at N256,403,837.937.
“Those are the balances and the updates as presented by the Honourable Minister for Finance, and of course, this is far an improvement over what it was year on year last year, and then you see it from this year. So that shows you that the economy is stabilizing, and even though there is more job to be done as agreed by the Minister, the NEC was properly briefed, and we appreciated the work that the Honourable Minister and indeed everyone is doing to ensure that the economy continues to stabilize.”
The Ondo State Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, said 80% of contractors who won the contracts for rehabilitation of 13 police training institutions have since received their contract letters.
Cc: Nigerian Tribune