Nigeria’s Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, has expressed confidence that the country will outperform the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) economic growth forecasts for 2026, 2027 and 2028, describing the projections as conservative.
Oyedele made the remarks during an exclusive interview with ARISE News on the sidelines of the 2026 IMF and World Bank Annual Meetings in Bangkok, Thailand.
The IMF has projected that Nigeria’s economy will grow by 4.1 per cent in 2026 and 4.3 per cent in 2027.
However, Oyedele said the government expects economic growth to surpass the projections for all three years.
“We will exceed the focus that the IMF has for us for 2026. We would exceed the one for 2027. We will exceed for 2028,” he said.
The minister maintained that the IMF’s forecasts were conservative and could be revised upwards.
“We’ll exceed all of it because they’re conservative. And you know they have the opportunity to always revise it.
“We expect they will revise it again very soon. Upwards,” he added.
The minister’s remarks come as the Federal Government pursues economic reforms aimed at stabilising the economy and improving living standards.
Oyedele said the government wanted the benefits of its reforms to translate into tangible improvements in Nigerians’ lives, particularly through employment opportunities and better economic conditions for businesses and households.
He said the next phase was to build on the progress made so that Nigerians could begin to see the benefits of the sacrifices associated with the reforms.
“I think the next phase for us now is to build on this so that we don’t leave anything on the table that we should crystallise because we really want that result to start showing on the dining table, in the employment of the young Nigerian, in the person who wants to do business, the old person, the pensioner, the retiree, that Nigerians can truly know that for once, they made the sacrifices and it’s paying off,” he said.
Faridah Abdulkadiri
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