The economic reforms rolled out by the Nigerian Government since May 2023 have boosted the country’s economy.
This is contained in the African Economic Outlook 2025, released by the Africa Development Bank (AfDB) at its ongoing Annual Meetings in Abidjan on Tuesday.
According to the report, services contributed three-quarters growth to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) .
The report attributed 13 per cent to industry growth, driven by higher oil production, which rose 2.8 per cent to 1.56 million barrels per day in 2024.
It said that agriculture production supported by competitive domestic prices contributed nine per cent to GDP growth.
“Demand was moderated by suppressed consumption due to higher prices. Market determined petrol prices increased 77 per cent and the Naira weakened 42 per cent during 2024.
“Both key underlying factors contributed to inflation, which stood at 33.2 per cent in 2024, up from 24.7 per cent in 2023.
“To dampen inflation pressures, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) tightened the policy rate to 27.5 per cent,” it said.
The report said that fiscal deficit of 3.9 per cent of GDP, which
was marginally lower than 4.0 per cent in 202, was largely driven by increased non-oil revenue.
“Public debt increased to 52.3 per cent of GDP in 2024 from 41.5 per cent in 2023,’’ it said
According to the report, this is driven by a weaker Naira and increased public borrowing.
It said that the current account surplus increased to 9.2 per cent of GDP in 2024 from 1.6 per cent of GDP in 2023 as higher import prices lowered imports.
The report said the financial services sector initiated recapitalisation to align with the trillion-dollar economy agenda, while financial stability improved.
It said that non-performing to gross loans ratios fell to 4.1 per cent mid-2024 from 4.4 per cent in 2023.
