{"id":17088,"date":"2026-11-13T15:45:55","date_gmt":"2026-11-13T15:45:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/2026\/11\/13\/sp-casts-doubt-on-nigerias-plan-to-reach-investment-grade-by-2029-businessday-ng\/"},"modified":"2026-11-13T15:45:55","modified_gmt":"2026-11-13T15:45:55","slug":"sp-casts-doubt-on-nigerias-plan-to-reach-investment-grade-by-2029-businessday-ng","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/2026\/11\/13\/sp-casts-doubt-on-nigerias-plan-to-reach-investment-grade-by-2029-businessday-ng\/","title":{"rendered":"S&P casts doubt on Nigeria’s plan to reach investment grade by 2029 – Businessday NG"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nigeria\u2019s ambition to regain investment-grade sovereign credit status by 2029 faces a significant historical hurdle, as S&P Global Ratings says no sovereign rated in the single-B category has moved to investment grade within three years.\n<\/p>\n

Samira Mensah, Managing Director for Research and Analytics in Africa at S&P Global Ratings, said the country\u2019s target would be difficult to achieve within the proposed timeframe, given the historical experience of sovereign credit-rating transitions.\n<\/p>\n

Speaking in an interview in Lagos, Mensah said S&P had not historically observed a country moving from a single-B rating to investment grade within three years, highlighting the scale of improvements Nigeria would need to sustain to achieve the government\u2019s ambition.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have never actually seen a sovereign go from a single B to investment grade in three years, historically,\u201d Mensah said.\n<\/p>\n

Her comments come after Finance Minister Taiwo Oyedele announced that Nigeria was targeting investment-grade status within three years, as the Federal Government seeks to attract more international capital, strengthen investor confidence and deepen the domestic financial market.<\/p>\n

Speaking at the S&P Global Africa Summit in Lagos on November 10, Oyedele described the target as ambitious but achievable, arguing that recent economic reforms had improved the country\u2019s investment proposition.\n<\/p>\n

The minister cited the removal of petrol subsidies, foreign exchange market liberalisation and comprehensive tax reforms as important measures undertaken by the administration to improve macroeconomic stability and strengthen public finances.\n<\/p>\n

He also pointed to improvements in Nigeria\u2019s external position and investor sentiment. According to Oyedele, the premium investors demand to hold Nigerian Eurobonds over United States Treasuries had declined from approximately 900 basis points to 300 basis points.\n<\/p>\n

Nigeria currently holds a B long-term sovereign credit rating with a stable outlook from S&P, following the agency\u2019s decision in May 2026 to upgrade the country from B-.\n<\/p>\n

The upgrade was the first by S&P since 2012 and reflected improvements in the country\u2019s economic and external position, including higher oil production and prices, increased domestic refining capacity and the liberalisation of the foreign exchange market.<\/p>\n

Despite the improvement, Nigeria remains five rating notches below the lowest investment-grade category, BBB-.\n<\/p>\n

Fitch Ratings currently assigns Nigeria a B rating with a positive outlook, while Moody\u2019s Ratings places the country at B3 with a positive outlook. Investment-grade thresholds begin at BBB- for S&P and Fitch and Baa3 for Moody\u2019s.\n<\/p>\n

Mensah acknowledged the Nigerian government\u2019s efforts to improve its economic and fiscal position, but suggested that policymakers should place greater emphasis on sustained improvements in economic fundamentals than on achieving a particular rating within a predetermined period.\n<\/p>\n

According to her, consistent progress in the right direction remains more important than targeting a specific credit-rating outcome.\n<\/p>\n

The challenge is not simply to secure further rating upgrades, but to demonstrate that improvements in fiscal revenue, foreign exchange liquidity, external reserves and debt sustainability can be maintained over an extended period.<\/p>\n

Oyedele has also linked Nigeria\u2019s credit-rating ambitions to broader capital-market reforms, including efforts to secure inclusion in MSCI\u2019s Emerging Markets classification rather than remaining within frontier-market benchmarks.\n<\/p>\n

The government\u2019s longer-term capital-market roadmap targets an expansion in market capitalisation from approximately \u20a6250 trillion to \u20a6750 trillion by 2036, as authorities seek to attract greater domestic and international investment.\n<\/p>\n

While S&P\u2019s assessment highlights the difficulty of Nigeria\u2019s three-year investment-grade ambition, the agency\u2019s recognition of the country\u2019s reform progress provides an indication that improvements in economic fundamentals remain central to its future rating trajectory.<\/p>\n

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Source: <\/p>\n

Businessday NG<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nigeria\u2019s ambition to regain investment-grade sovereign credit status by 2029 faces a significant historical hurdle, as S&P Global Ratings says no sovereign rated in the single-B category has moved to… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17089,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17088"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17088\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}