Nigeria reforms helped to avert economic collapse, finance minister says
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FILE PHOTO: Nigeria's president Bola Tinubu attends a panel discussion during the Africa CEO forum under the theme “The Scale Imperative: Why Africa Must Embrace Shared Ownership,” at the Kigali Convention Centre in Kigali, Rwanda, May 14, 2026. REUTE
ABUJA, Aug 19 (Reuters) - President Bola Tinubu's overhaul of Nigeria's economy, including scrapping a costly fuel subsidy and devaluing the currency, has helped to stabilise public finances, lift foreign reserves and attract investment, Finance Minister Taiwo Oyedele said on Wednesday.
Tinubu's 2023 reforms have won backing from investors and international lenders, but for ordinary Nigerians they have been painful, and at least in the short term have exacerbated a cost-of-living crisis.
• Oyedele said subsidy and foreign exchange reforms delivered 15.8 trillion naira ($11.71 billion) in savings from June 2023 to December 2025.
• He also said they boosted total federal resources by 20.4 trillion naira through higher revenues and borrowing.
• The government used the funds to support 30.64 trillion naira in extra spending.
• That included 9.39 trillion naira for wage increases, 9.37 trillion naira to service external debt and 6.5 trillion naira for infrastructure, he said.
• Oyedele said the reforms ended a situation in which 27 states struggled to pay salaries.
• In addition, he said they narrowed the official-parallel market exchange rate gap to under 5% from more than 60%.
• They also helped to check growth in the government's roughly 30 trillion naira Ways and Means debt, as it refers to the money the Central Bank of Nigeria lent directly to the federal government to cover temporary budget shortfalls.
• Nigeria's economic growth is still sluggish. It grew 3.89% year-on-year in the first quarter, down from 4.07% in the final quarter of 2025.
($1 = 1,349.8400 naira)
(Reporting by Camillus Eboh, Writing by Elisha Bala-Gbogbo; editing by Barbara Lewis)
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