Nigeria’s Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun is currently spearheading the country’s delegation to the 2025 IMF-World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington, D.C., driving discussions on economic reform, international partnerships, and financial sustainability amidst US tariff uncertainty.
On the back of the uncertainty that follows the US flip flop on tariffs, the IMF had reported in its Spring World Economic Outlook a “slowdown in global growth as downside risks intensify,” projecting global growth of 3.3 percent for the year.
Notwithstanding, the Honourable Minister’s schedule for the week underscores Nigeria’s focus on its continuous strategic push for economic reform, international partnership, and financial sustainability. Accordingly, the minister’s key engagements include bilateral meetings with senior officials from the IMF, World Bank, and International Finance Corporation (IFC), as well as participation in roundtables focused on climate finance, energy transition, and debt restructuring.
In its outlook, the IMF called for “keen policy focus on balancing tradeoffs between inflation and real activity, rebuilding buffers, and lifting medium growth prospect through stepped up structural reforms as well stronger multilateral rules and cooperation.”
Though there is huge room for upside, this ties in with Nigeria’s current macroeconomic focus. For instance, Nigeria recorded inflation rate of 24. 23 percent in March 2025, from 23.18 percent in February, the slightest increase in inflation since June 2023. Nigeria has also been rebuilding its foreign reserves, now at US $38 billion compared to US $33.2 billion at the end of 2023. According to one of Nigeria’s Bank CEOs who do not want to be quoted, “In the last 20 months, the Central Bank of Nigeria, under the leadership of Yemi Cardoso, as part of Nigeria’s broad economic strategy has focused on rebuilding reserves, rebuild confidence, and repay obligations.” It also ties in with the latest rating by Fitch, upgrading Nigeria’s long term foreign currency issuer default rating to ‘B’, from ‘B-‘, signifying stable outlook due to the ongoing economic reforms of the government.
Following the significant progress made in stabilising Nigeria’s economy over the past year, the government is now targeting rapid, inclusive growth with a clear emphasis on job creation. Edun is using the global platform to advocate for Nigeria’s renewed economic agenda — centred on fiscal consolidation, expanding social protection, and unlocking private sector investment across key sectors.
In his capacity as Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Edun continues to champion reforms that will deliver long-term economic resilience aimed at lifting millions of Nigerians out of poverty, while also ensuring that development is both equitable and sustainable. The Nigerian delegation includes senior officials from the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, the Central Bank of Nigeria,and Nigeria’s multilateral finance agencies.
The Spring Meetings, which concludes this weekend, provides Nigeria’s fiscal and monetary policy leaders a timely platform for strategic discussions and partnerships that will unlock the country’s growth potential with dialogue expected to yield significant outcomes that will shape Nigeria’s economic trajectory and inform future policy directions.
