The World Bank expects Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to hit an average of 3.6 per cent a year in 2025-2026. In its latest Global Economic Prospects report for Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), the bank said its projection will be 3 per cent over the 3.3 per cent recorded in 2024.
It credited the 2024 GDP growth mainly to financial and telecommunication services. Macroeconomic and fiscal reforms, according to the WB, helped to improve business confidence, saying: “In response to rising inflation and a weak naira, the central bank tightened monetary policy.
Meanwhile, the fiscal deficit narrowed due to a surge in revenues driven by the elimination of the implicit foreign exchange subsidy, following the unification of the exchange rate and improved revenue administration.”
The bank also expects inflation to gradually decline, improving consumption and supporting growth in the services sector, the main driver of growth.
It based its projection on the monetary policy tightening of last year. Although it projects oil production to increase, it says Nigeria may still fall short of meeting its OPEC quota. The report expects an average of 4.2 percent in 2025-2026 and growth in 2025-26 up from an estimated 3.2 percent in 2024. It was 2.9 per cent in 2023.
