{"id":3246,"date":"2026-10-29T12:00:51","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T12:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/2026\/10\/29\/nigeria-has-changed-its-economic-policies-where-are-the-results-businessday-ng\/"},"modified":"2026-10-29T12:00:51","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T12:00:51","slug":"nigeria-has-changed-its-economic-policies-where-are-the-results-businessday-ng","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/2026\/10\/29\/nigeria-has-changed-its-economic-policies-where-are-the-results-businessday-ng\/","title":{"rendered":"Nigeria has changed its economic policies. Where are the results? \u2013 Businessday NG"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nigeria\u2019s economic reforms will ultimately be judged not by the policies the government announces, but by whether businesses can produce more, workers can earn decent incomes and households can afford a better standard of living. Since 2023, subsidy removal, foreign-exchange liberalisation and monetary tightening have reshaped the economy. These changes have addressed genuine distortions, but stabilisation alone cannot deliver prosperity. The pressing task is to turn the gains from reform into productive investment, employment and better public services.\n<\/p>\n

The 2026 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, awarded to Robert E. Hall and Michael Woodford for their work on the microeconomic foundations of macroeconomic stabilisation, offers a useful perspective. Hall\u2019s research on consumption and expectations and Woodford\u2019s work on monetary policy help explain how households and businesses respond to government decisions. Policies succeed not merely because they change economic conditions, but because they influence the choices people make. Nigeria must therefore assess its reforms by examining how they affect real economic behaviour.
The Central Bank of Nigeria\u2019s September decision to reset the Monetary Policy Rate at 23 percent, from 26.5 percent, illustrates the challenge. The adjustment was intended to strengthen monetary-policy transmission by restoring the benchmark\u2019s relevance to market interest rates; it was not simply a conventional easing of the policy stance. Its significance will depend on whether the revised framework improves the transmission of monetary decisions through financial markets and ultimately influences the cost of credit. A change in the benchmark is not proof that businesses can borrow more affordably.\n<\/p>\n

The International Monetary Fund\u2019s June 2026 analysis of Nigeria\u2019s interest-rate transmission identifies a problem that deserves attention. A 100-basis-point increase in the policy rate raised Treasury bill and lending rates by approximately 175\u2013180 basis points, while a comparable reduction lowered them by only 25\u201330 basis points. This asymmetry suggests that borrowing costs can rise rapidly during tightening but decline much more slowly during easing. For businesses already confronting high operating costs, the consequences can include delayed investment, reduced production and fewer employment opportunities.\n<\/p>\n

The CBN should publish a quarterly assessment showing how changes in its policy rate affect interbank rates, Treasury bill yields, lending rates and new private-sector credit. The report should distinguish lending to large corporations from credit available to smaller businesses and identify whether borrowing costs are falling as market conditions change. Banks should explain how funding costs and credit risks influence their lending decisions.\n<\/p>\n

The aim should not be to compel indiscriminate lending but to establish whether viable enterprises can obtain finance on reasonable terms. Monetary policy must remain focused on price stability, with its wider effects assessed honestly.<\/p>\n

Cheaper credit, however, cannot compensate for unreliable electricity, expensive logistics or insecurity. A manufacturer will struggle to expand if power interruptions increase production costs, while a farmer may lose market opportunities when transport is unreliable. Federal and state governments must therefore concentrate public investment on infrastructure that reduces the cost of doing business. Major projects should have published budgets, delivery dates and measurable service targets. Authorities should report whether completed investments reduce electricity interruptions, transport delays and other operating costs, rather than treating money spent as evidence of success.\n<\/p>\n

Expectations also shape investment. Businesses are more likely to commit capital when they can reasonably anticipate the direction of taxation, exchange-rate arrangements and government regulation. Policy cannot be frozen, but changes must be explained and implemented consistently. The CBN should communicate the evidence informing monetary decisions, while fiscal authorities should disclose the costs, funding and expected effects of major reforms. Predictability builds confidence; abrupt changes and unclear rules increase uncertainty and encourage businesses to postpone investment.\n<\/p>\n

The social costs of adjustment require equal attention. A fall in inflation does not mean prices have returned to earlier levels, nor does it prove that household purchasing power has recovered. Families with savings may absorb higher food and transport costs temporarily but households dependent on irregular earnings often have to sacrifice healthcare, education or food quality. Government should assess reform through real earnings, employment and household expenditure, not inflation alone. Social assistance should have transparent eligibility rules, verified beneficiary records and published payment schedules. Authorities should disclose how many eligible households receive support on time and independently assess whether assistance reaches those most in need.\n<\/p>\n

Fiscal gains must produce visible public value. Removing fuel subsidies can ease pressure on public finances, but the benefits will remain limited if additional resources disappear into inefficient expenditure, poorly executed projects or weak services. Federal and state governments should publish quarterly reports linking major revenue receipts to actual expenditure and completed projects. These reports should show funds released, physical progress, delivery deadlines and independently verified results. Where projects repeatedly miss milestones, responsible agencies should explain the failure and publish corrective action. Public accountability must extend beyond disclosure to consequences.\n<\/p>\n

Nigeria also needs a coordinated way to judge the overall performance of reform. The finance ministry, budget authorities, the CBN and relevant sector ministries should report against clear baselines for inflation, real household purchasing power, private investment, employment, productivity and infrastructure delivery. Each indicator should have an accountable institution and a review timetable. Where outcomes fall short, the government should identify whether the cause lies in policy design, implementation or wider economic constraints, then adjust its response accordingly.<\/p>\n

Nigeria cannot eliminate every cost of economic adjustment, and reform should not be judged solely by immediate popularity. But neither should difficult decisions be defended indefinitely without evidence of results. The real test is whether the economy becomes more productive, businesses gain the confidence to invest and households see a credible improvement in their living standards. Reform is not complete when government changes the rules. It begins to deliver when those changes create measurable economic and social gains.<\/p>\n

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

Nigeria\u2019s economic reforms will ultimately be judged not by the policies the government announces, but by whether businesses can produce more, workers can earn decent incomes and households can afford… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3247,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3246","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\/3246","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=3246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3246\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}