The World Bank has said reforms undertaken by Nigerias government are essential, but have piled pressure on its people, more than half of whom live in poverty.
Since coming to power in May 2023, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has introduced reforms aimed at reviving the economy of Africas most populous nation. Measures include the liberalisation of the battered naira currency and cutting fuel subsidies, which allowed the state to keep gasoline prices low for decades.
In a report published on Thursday, the World Bank said, The new policy direction is essential, but in the short-term it has added to already intense pressures on households and firms.
The West African country has seen one of its worst economic crises in recent history, with inflation at a three-decade high more than 30 percent and the price of petrol rising more than fivefold since Tinubu took office.
Poverty has soared to hit more than half of the population over the last six years, according to the World Bank. Since 2018, the share of Nigerians living below the national poverty line is estimated to have risen sharply from 40.1 percent to 56.0 percent, it said, adding that 129 million are now living in poverty.
Multiple issues have contributed to the spike, the lender said, citing the Covid-19 recession, natural disasters such as flooding, growing insecurity, the high cost of the demonetisation policy in Q1 2023, high inflation and low economic growth.
The share of the urban population living in poverty has nearly doubled, from 18 to 31.3 percent, according to the report, published twice a year assessing economic and social developments and prospects in Nigeria.
Headline inflation is anticipated to peak at an average annual rate of 31.7% in 2024, largely driven by the depreciation of the Naira and increased gasoline prices, it said.
The World Bank said inflation was expected to fall from 32.7 percent in September to 14.3 percent by 2027, helped by the governments macroeconomic reforms.
Nigerians being under the age of 25, the government must create jobs, the organisation added.
