Nigeria aims to cut inflation to low single digits before the end of ​2027, paving the way for sharply lower interest ‌rates that could lower borrowing costs and support growth, Finance Minister Taiwo Oyedele said on Monday.

“If you are growing ​at 4.43% and borrowing at close to 30%, ​imagine what is possible when you borrow at ⁠single-digit rates,” Oyedele said.

Nigeria’s headline inflation rate is stuck ​at around 15% with the benchmark interest rate at ​23%, keeping cost-of-living pressures high just months before a national election.

Speaking at the Nigeria economic summit, Oyedele said the government’s reforms were ​already delivering benefits but that authorities wanted to ​accelerate gains so that household incomes rise faster than prices.

Lower inflation ‌and ⁠interest rates would unlock investment and accelerate growth in Africa’s most populous country, he said.

Oyedele said policymakers were open to changing course on the reforms where ​evidence showed measures ​were ineffective, ⁠but urged critics to engage constructively with policy details rather than rely on “emotion” ​or incomplete narratives.

Since taking office in 2023, ​President Bola ⁠Tinubu has scrapped fuel subsidies, devalued the naira and pushed through reforms that have boosted public finances, foreign ⁠reserves ​and investor confidence. But the ​measures have also triggered Nigeria’s worst cost-of-living crisis in decades.

REUTERS