CBN Vows Relentless Push To Bring Inflation Down To Single Digit

The Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) governor, Olayemi Cardoso, has said that the Federal Govern­ment will not rest until inflation falls to single digits, despite the sharp decline from its peak of about 34 to 35 percent to around 15 percent.

He said high inflation remained a major burden on poor Nigerians, eroding their purchasing power and making it difficult for house­holds to afford food and other basic necessities.

Cardoso spoke on Wednesday at an investors’ engagement on the sidelines of the 2026 IMF-World Bank Annual Meetings in Bangkok, Thailand, where the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, outlined fresh re­forms to improve the busi­ness environment and the Dangote Group credited re­cent fiscal and monetary pol­icy changes with helping to stabilise its operations and support investment. ­

The engagement also fea­tured the Director General of the Debt Management Of­fice (DMO), Patience Oniha, who explained the govern­ment’s borrowing plans for the fourth quarter of 2026 amid investors’ concerns about bond supply and mar­ket uncertainty.

Cardoso said the de­cline in inflation was en­couraging but not enough to warrant complacency, stressing that the CBN was determined to bring price increases down to more manageable levels.

“The reason why we felt it was important to give our­selves this as a target is to recognise the fact that infla­tion is probably the biggest tax on the poor,” he said.

He added: “Inflation has gone from about 34, 35 per­cent to about 15, and yes, that’s a significant decrease, very significant. But what we are basically saying is that we are not going to rest.”

The CBN governor said the move towards inflation targeting would make mon­etary policy more transpar­ent and give businesses and investors a clearer under­standing of the direction of economic policies.

He also defended the wid­er benefits of the reforms, arguing that stronger ex­ternal reserves and relative stability in the foreign ex­change market had helped shield Nigeria from some of the pressures affecting other economies.

Cardoso said the coun­try’s external reserves had risen to their highest level in 18 years, providing a buffer against external shocks, in­cluding the effects of global conflicts and uncertainty over tariffs.

He maintained that the naira’s stability and appre­ciation had helped ease in­flationary pressures, with benefits extending beyond the financial markets to businesses and house­holds.

“What does this mean for me? I’m not feeling it. You do, you feel it definitely,” he said and noted that Nigeri­ans would have faced more severe economic pressures without the reforms.

According to him, the stability being achieved was laying the foundation for fresh investment and stronger economic growth.

The Finance Minister, Taiwo Oyedele, in his re­marks, said the Federal Gov­ernment was preparing ma­jor reforms in agriculture, electricity, inflation manage­ment, business regulation and access to economic data.

He added that the govern­ment recognised that food prices remained a major driver of inflation and was working to address the prob­lems affecting agricultural production and food supply.

On electricity, the minis­ter said Nigeria could not achieve its ambition of be­coming a $1 trillion economy without a reliable power sup­ply.

“You cannot power a $1 trillion economy in dark­ness. It’s impossible,” he said.

He explained that the government was examin­ing measures to improve electricity pricing, tackle transmission challenges and raise efficiency in the power sector to attract more invest­ment.

Oyedele also revealed that the government was work­ing with state governments and other relevant authori­ties to coordinate measures to reduce inflation, with specific responsibilities and timelines for implementa­tion.

On the cost of doing busi­ness, he warned that exces­sive regulations, unclear rules and multiple charges were imposing heavy bur­dens on companies and dis­couraging investment.

“We estimate that over­regulation, regulatory bur­den, lack of clarity, and all of those excessive burdens that we post on businesses actually are costing us more than the combined revenue from corporate tax, person­al income tax and VAT com­bined,” he said.

The minister said the gov­ernment was developing a framework for economic pol­icy to prevent agencies from introducing new rules, fees and licences without proper coordination.

He also promised to im­prove access to reliable fiscal and economic data, includ­ing information on taxa­tion, government revenue, employment and inflation.

Oyedele said the govern­ment wanted to move inves­tors away from short-term portfolio investments to­wards longer-term commit­ments that would establish factories, expand production and create jobs.

He stressed that Nigeria needed to create decent jobs rather than focus only on reducing the official unem­ployment rate, noting that many people remained poor despite having work.

“We don’t just need to cre­ate jobs; we need to create de­cent jobs,” he said.

On incentives for inves­tors seeking to establish factories, Oyedele said the government had introduced the Economic Development Incentive, which offers tax credits to qualifying busi­nesses instead of relying solely on conventional tax holidays.

He explained that inves­tors must meet specified conditions to earn the cred­its, making the arrangement more difficult to abuse.

The minister also ac­knowledged concerns about uncertainty over the taxa­tion of government securi­ties, limited market liquidity and inadequate communica­tion of policy changes.

He promised clearer guid­ance to help investors make informed decisions.

The DMO DG, Patience Oniha, while responding to questions about the govern­ment’s fourth-quarter bond issuance calendar, said the planned borrowing com­prised both refinancing of maturing debt and new bor­rowing.

She explained that the government would contin­ue to monitor interest rates, market conditions and inves­tor demand when deciding the volume of securities to issue.

Oniha added that borrow­ing had increased after the passage of the 2026 budget, following relatively slow­er issuance in the first two quarters of the year.

The Dangote Group, meanwhile, said greater con­sistency and transparency in government policies had im­proved investor confidence and helped it plan its oper­ations.

The Group’s Chief Econo­mist, Hassan Mammud, who spoke on behalf of its Pres­ident, Aliko Dangote, said the company’s experience showed that large invest­ments were possible when investors could rely on pre­dictable fiscal and monetary policies.

He cited the Group’s in­vestment of about $17 billion in its refinery, saying such a commitment would have been difficult to sustain in an economy where policies lacked consistency and cred­ibility.

Mammud also pointed to incentives available to businesses operating in ex­port-free zones as part of the factors supporting in­vestment.

He urged local and foreign investors to take advantage of opportunities in Nigeria, describing the country as a model for investment in oth­er African economies.

“Please come into Nige­ria, bring your investment. Nigeria is actually a symbol to other African countries now,” he said.

He cited the group’s planned $20 billion refinery investment in Kenya as an example of how its Nigeri­an experience could support expansion across the conti­nent.

Cardoso said the experi­ences shared by investors demonstrated the impor­tance of policy credibility and consistency in attract­ing capital, adding that the ultimate objective was to es­tablish conditions that sup­port investment, economic expansion and improved living standards.

He urged stakeholders to help Nigerians understand the reforms, insisting that sustained progress in con­trolling inflation and main­taining economic stability would benefit the wider population, not only inves­tors and businesses.

Chdi Ugwu is a correspondent with Independent Newspapers.

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