Key facts
- Nigeria will finance its next growth phase with private capital, not state borrowing.
- Petrol subsidies have been removed and will not be reinstated.
- Inflation has decreased to 14.63% from 21% a year ago.
- The finance minister aims for inflation to reach low single digits in the coming months.
Nigeria's Finance Minister Taiwo Oyedele announced on Wednesday that the country will increasingly rely on private investors, both domestic and foreign, to finance its next phase of growth, rather than increasing state borrowing. Speaking at an event at the think tank Chatham House, Oyedele stated that Nigeria had been living on "borrowed money, and increasingly, borrowed time," but that this era is ending. He emphatically declared that "The petrol subsidy is gone and it is staying gone." Oyedele also commented on inflation, noting it has fallen to 14.63% from 21% a year ago, and expressed a goal for it to reach "low single digits over the next coming months."