Nigeria's Tinubu touts economic gains at mid-term but inflation and insecurity persist
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday marked his second anniversary in office by declaring that his economic reforms were working, but international bodies have warned of persistent economic and security problems.
Since 2023, Tinubu's policies - the removal of a costly petrol price subsidy, cuts to electricity price subsidies, and two currency devaluations - have triggered the worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation, fuelled by inflation rates of more than 23%.
"Our economic reforms are working. We are on course to building a greater, more economically stable nation," Tinubu said in an anniversary statement.
He said the measures were needed to avert a severe fiscal crisis that would have led to "runaway inflation, external debt default, and a plunging Naira and an economy in a free-fall."
Tinubu said the fiscal deficit has narrowed sharply to 3.0% of GDP in 2024 from 5.4% in 2023, supported by improved government revenue generation. He claimed inflation had begun to ease, but this is largely because the index was rebased for the first time in more than a decade.
The World Bank has said that Nigeria's fiscal position has improved in recent months, but warned that persistently high inflation remains a challenge.
Tinubu said security has improved, claiming banditry in Nigeria's northwest has been curbed, highways are safer, and farmers are "back tilling the land". But attacks and kidnappings persist, and insecurity continues across various regions.
Amnesty International said in a report on Thursday that at least 10,217 people have been killed in attacks by gunmen in the two years since Tinubu took office.
His ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) party has endorsed him to run for a second and final term in the next election, due in early 2027. (Additional reporting by Camillus Eboh in Abuja; writing by Elisha Bala-Gbogbo; editing by Giles Elgood)
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