The economic reforms being pursued by the Federal Government are starting to yield the desired results as seen in rising revenues and improved foreign reserves accretion, Chief Executive Officer, FirstBank Group, Olusegun Alebiosu has said.
He spoke yesterday at the FirstBank Economic Outlook with theme: “Nigeria 2025: Path to Economic Rebound & Recovery” held in Lagos.
The bank chief explained that the improving government revenues, improved revenue-to-debt service ratio at 68 per cent and the growth in foreign reserve balances to over $40 billion represent positive indicators for the economy.
He further said: “Early signs such as the stability that characterized the forex market after the introduction of the electronic foreign exchange matching system in December 2024; the emergence of competition on the supply side of our nation’s downstream sector that is leading to falling prices in premium motor spirit (PMS) and the coming back on stream of the Port Harcourt & Warri refineries are indicative that there is, indeed, light at the end of the tunnel for us as a country”.
Alebiosu said the sheer timing of the emergence of these developments has strengthened my optimism about the Nigerian economy, especially coming into the new year 2025.
Also, the government’s proposed N49.7 trillion 2025 budget is expected to provide sufficient economic stimulus in view of the lower likelihood for poor budget implementation due to improving Government’s revenue position, adding that the projected GDP growth rate of 3.68 per cent for 2025 is a very likely outcome.
He reiterated FirstBank’s understanding of the domestic economic realities, but more importantly, its readiness to partner with our customers to identify emerging opportunities within the economy to be properly equipped towards achieving both their personal and corporate goals in 2025.
“At FirstBank, we are committed to supporting our customers with innovative products and services that can help cushion and manage the impact of our economic realities as well as enabling our customers to convert distinct opportunities in the economy,” he said.
He disclosed that due to the impacts of some of the “painful but necessary” reforms that the Government had pursued, inflationary pressures exerted considerable strain on household and corporate incomes in 2024, with the inflation rate reaching a three-decades high of 34.60 per cent in November 2024.
In response, the Central Bank of Nigeria, through its Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), had steadily raised the benchmark Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) to 27.5% in a bid to tame inflationary pressures. The combination of these actions has resulted in significantly higher cost of living/operations and funding for households and corporates.
Nevertheless, the Nigerian Gross Domestic Products (GDP) grew steadily on a quarter-on-quarter basis in 2024, growing the most by 3.46% in Q3.
Also speaking, Founder and Chief Consultant of B. Adedipe Associates Limited, ‘Biodun Adedipe said that pressure in the forex market will continue to drop in the coming months, which will lead to rebound in the naira exchange rate against global currencies.
He said the improvement in local oil production has contributed significantly to reduced pressure in the forex market.
Adedipe said the fundamental problems of developing countries have been reduced food deficit, energy deficit and manufacturing deficit. He called for an expansive domestic manufacturing, agribusiness and relentless, deliberate and focused export drive.
On his part, Managing Director, Financial Derivatives Company Limited, Bismarck Rewane said that this year is going to be less hard, less painful, less difficult than last year. He said the fact that things were so difficult in 2024, does not in anyway indicate that the difficulties will persist this year.