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The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says that the tough economic reforms introduced by President Bola Tinubu's administration have yet to have a positive trickle-down effect on average Nigerians, nearly two years after they were implemented.
IMF Mission Chief for Nigeria, Axel Schimmelpfennig, made this known in a statement on Friday, April 18, 2025.
Upon assumption of office in May 2023, the President launched sweeping economic policies aimed at reforming the country’s public finances. Though the decisions have led to widespread discontent and criticism of the administration, the government insisted that they were necessary to redirect the nation's economic trajectory, an argument fully supported by the IMF.
However, as these policies continue to negatively impact many ordinary Nigerians, who are currently living through the worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation, the Fund overserved that poverty and food insecurity remain major concerns.
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The government has taken “important steps to stabilise the economy, enhance resilience, and support growth,” Schimmelpfennig wrote.
However, he said those “gains have yet to benefit all Nigerians, as poverty and food insecurity remain high,” following nearly two weeks of routine discussions with the Nigerian government officials and civil society representatives.
The IMF chief warned that “the outlook is marked by significant uncertainty,” noting that increased global uncertainty and falling oil prices will also impact the Nigerian economy.
Regardless, Schimmelpfennig said Tinubu’s reforms have put the economy in a “better position to navigate this external environment.”
Tinubu's reform measures include unifying the forex market to reflect the naira’s true value, removing subsidies on fuel, and ending the Central Bank’s financing of the fiscal deficit.
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A World Bank report in October 2024 said poverty in Nigeria had surged over the past years, with more than half the population now affected, as 129 million people live in poverty.