The Nigerian Presidency has rejected a recent International Monetary Fund (IMF) article that raised concerns over the country’s economic trajectory.
The government has labelled the report as a “very fatalistic” and unhelpful assessment of ongoing reforms.
In its July 7 publication titled “How Nigeria Can Unleash Its Economic Potential,” the IMF acknowledged that President Bola Tinubu’s administration had initiated important reforms, such as the removal of fuel subsidies and exchange rate unification, but warned that the impact had been slow in reducing inflation, tackling poverty, or strengthening investor confidence.
The Fund noted that inflation remained persistently above 20 per cent, food insecurity had deepened, and recommended firmer monetary policy, effective budgetary discipline, and better redistribution of fuel subsidy savings into critical infrastructure and social safety nets.
“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 with newsmen 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.
