Nigeria’s Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, has expressed confidence that the country’s economy will grow faster than the International Monetary Fund’s projections for 2026, 2027 and 2028.
Oyedele described the IMF’s forecasts as conservative, saying the Federal Government expected economic growth to exceed the projections over the three years.
He 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 expected to outperform 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 forecasts were conservative and could be revised upwards as economic conditions developed.
“We’ll exceed all of it because they’re conservative. And you know they have the opportunity to always revise it,” he said.
“We expect they will revise it again very soon. Upwards.”
Oyedele’s remarks come as the Federal Government continues to defend its economic reforms, which include the removal of the petrol subsidy, amid concerns about the cost of living.
He said the government’s next priority was to ensure that the progress recorded through the reforms translated into tangible improvements in Nigerians’ daily lives.
According to him, the benefits should become evident through employment opportunities, improved conditions for businesses and better living standards for households.
“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.
The minister said the government wanted Nigerians to begin to see the benefits of the economic changes and the sacrifices associated with the reforms.