The Federal Government has pushed back against a critical report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which raised alarm over Nigeria’s economic outlook and the pace of recent reforms.
The IMF’s report, published on July 7 and titled “How Nigeria Can Unleash Its Economic Potential,” highlighted persistent inflation above 20%, worsening food insecurity, and weak investor confidence. It urged firmer monetary policy, disciplined budgeting, and more effective use of savings from fuel subsidy removal, especially toward infrastructure and social welfare.
“The country needs stronger and more sustained growth to lift millions out of poverty and food insecurity,” the IMF stated, while also encouraging the Federal Government to align its tax rates with regional benchmarks once the national cash transfer system is fully functional.
However, in reacting to the IMF’s remarks, the Special Adviser to the President on Economic Affairs, Tope Fasua, faulted the tone and timing of the Fund’s message, describing it as both discouraging and destabilising.
Speaking on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Tuesday, Fasua said:
“This administration under President Tinubu has done some of the deepest reforms that we have seen in a while. We only just got the tax bills signed into law—bills that offer relief to low-income earners and double the tax threshold for small businesses.
“We haven’t even allowed those measures to settle, yet we’re hearing all sorts of very fatalistic statements from different places, including, unfortunately, the IMF.”
He accused the IMF of constant interference.
“Sometimes one wants to think they go into overdrive, almost every week or every two to three days, there’s a statement on Nigeria. At the end of the day, it leaves everyone in a state of confusion.”
Fasua revealed that Nigeria had recently repaid $3 billion of its COVID-19 loan from the IMF, an obligation he said many countries are yet to fulfil. Yet, according to him, the Fund continues to pile on pressure.
“We’re not asking for a pat on the back; we’re just saying, you know what, give us a breather. Let us be able to implement the policies we’ve started. They acknowledge that the reforms are good, yet they keep demanding more, and it’s almost like being caught between the devil and the deep blue sea.”
“Give us a break; let us be able to know where we are going before coming at us at every angle and generally throwing us off whack. It’s like a house that is completely dilapidated.
“And we’re being asked to provide full comfort in two years after removing the roof and working on the foundation. That’s not realistic.”
“The IMF has both an advisory and a lending arm, and sometimes it looks like their advice clashes with their lending stance. We don’t even know which to believe anymore.
“We’ve done the right things. They say they want more—but the government also has a right to say, ‘Let us see how what we’ve done turns out.’ Like the president would say, ‘Let the poor breathe.’”
Responding to questions about inflation and the cost-of-living crisis, Fasua dismissed expectations of an immediate turnaround.
“They’ve recommended even more painful reforms. They want us to keep raising interest rates. But interest rates are now stabilising. The Central Bank has a view to begin to reduce them gradually.”
“They complained that inflation is high. Do they expect it to drop to single digits in a quarter? That’s unrealistic. Inflation has reduced over the last three months and will likely fall further. Whoever wrote that statement is not sounding like an economist, because an economist is not a fantasist.”