World Bank projects 3.6% economic growth for Nigeria.
The World Bank has projected that Nigeria’s economy will grow by 3.6 per cent in 2025, building on an estimated expansion of 3.4 per cent in 2024, as key macroeconomic reforms begin to stabilize the business environment.
The bank also said Nigeria is now home to 15 per cent of the world’s extremely poor people, according to its latest Africa Pulse report released in April 2025.
The bank’s latest economic forecast, which is contained in the Spring 2025 edition of Africa’s Pulse, reflects a more optimistic view than that of the International Monetary Fund, which revised Nigeria’s 2025 growth rate downward to 3.0 per cent in its April 2025
According to the World Bank, the projected recovery is anchored on improved performance in non-oil sectors, notably financial services, telecommunications, information technology, and a gradual rebound in oil production, which is expected to align with Nigeria’s OPEC+ quota.
The multilateral lender anticipates that the country’s economic growth will further strengthen to 3.8 per cent by 2027, assuming current reforms are sustained.
The report stated, “Economic growth is expected to remain moderate in Nigeria. It is expected to increase from 3.4 per cent in 2024 to 3.6 per cent in 2025, and slightly increase to 3.8 per cent in 2026–27.
In contrast, the IMF’s outlook remains cautious, citing persistent structural constraints and weaker oil receipts as key factors weighing down growth prospects.
The Fund projects that economic expansion will slow to 2.7 per cent in 2026.
On inflation, the World Bank projects that headline inflation will ease to 22.1 per cent in 2025, down from 26.6 per cent in 2024, with further moderation to 15.9 per cent by 2027. These forecasts are based on adjusted CPI figures following the rebasing exercise by the National Bureau of Statistics in January 2025.
The NBS had revised the base year of the Consumer Price Index from 2009 to 2024 to reflect current consumption patterns. As a result of the rebasing, inflation fell from 34.80 per cent in December 2024 to 24.48 per cent in January 2025, before rising slightly to 24.23 per cent in March, highlighting ongoing cost-of-living pressures.
Source: Punchng
