Economy
World Bank Urges Tinubu to Implement Cash Transfer Programme
By Adedapo Adesanya
The World Bank, through its Country Director for Nigeria, Mr Shubham Chaudhuri, has tasked the new administration of President Bola Tinubu to initiate critical reforms to address macroeconomic imbalances, including a cash transfer programme.
This was disclosed in the June 2023 Nigeria Development Update (NDU) titled Seizing the Opportunity, released by the Bretton Woods lender.
Mr Chaudri said, “Nigeria should now seize the opportunity to implement a robust, large-scale cash transfer programme to provide quick relief to the poor, near poor, as well as low-income households which are most directly affected by higher petrol prices, as part of a broader compact to redirect scarce fiscal resources towards development priorities”.
He noted that, “The current move by the government to implement long-anticipated reforms such as the removal of costly and opaque petrol subsidy, and efforts to harmonize the multiple FX windows, are timely and crucial to set Nigeria on the path of economic growth.
“These reforms should be accompanied by compensatory actions to mitigate the short-term impact on the poor.”
The bank noted that the removal of the petrol subsidy and foreign exchange (FX) management reforms are crucial measures to begin to rebuild fiscal space and restore macroeconomic stability, and the opportunity should be seized to take further necessary policy reform steps.
According to the World Bank, this window of opportunity could have a transformative impact on the lives of millions of Nigerians and establish a solid foundation for sustainable and inclusive growth.
The lender added that it is critical to implement a comprehensive reform package that encompasses a range of complementary measures, including a new social compact to protect the poor and most vulnerable, to maximize the collective impact on growth, job creation, and poverty reduction.
The World Bank highlighted that the first part of 2023, Nigeria’s economic growth weakened, and real gross domestic product (GDP) growth fell from 3.3 per cent in 2022 to 2.4 per cent year-on-year in Q1 2023.
Despite the challenging global economic environment putting pressure on Nigeria’s economy, domestic policies play a major role in determining Nigeria’s economic performance and resilience to further external shocks.
“The previous mix of fiscal, monetary, and exchange rate policies, including the naira redesign program, did not deliver the desired improvements in growth, inflation, and economic resilience.
“The new government has recognized the need to chart a new course and has already made a start on critical reforms, such as the elimination of the petrol subsidy and reforms in the FX market,” the update noted.
The World Bank noted that with the petrol subsidy removal, the government is projected to achieve fiscal savings of approximately N2 trillion in 2023, equivalent to 0.9 per cent of GDP.
These savings are expected to reach over N11 trillion by the end of 2025.
“However, compensating transfers will be essential to help shield the most vulnerable Nigerian households from the initial price impacts of the subsidy reform, as without compensation, many households could be pushed into poverty by higher petrol prices and have to resort to coping mechanisms with long-term adverse consequences,” it noted.
Similarly, the move to harmonize the FX windows will help to improve the efficiency of the FX market, unlock private investment, and reduce inflationary pressures, but it is crucial to complete this important reform by removing FX restrictions, clearly communicating how the new FX regime will operate, and implementing supportive monetary and fiscal policies.
The report recommends specific, critical measures to build on the new government’s bold start in making critical reforms to ensure that Nigeria rises to its full potential.
These include: restoring macroeconomic stability by increasing non-oil revenue, reducing inflation through a sequenced and coordinated mix of trade, monetary and fiscal policies, and completing the FX reform; expanding social protection to protect the poor and most vulnerable, and developing and communicating how, as fiscal space recovers, resources will be redirected over time to meet urgent development challenges.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Despite signs that Nigeria’s headline inflation is easing, rising food prices continue to threaten the country’s inflation outlook, the chief executive of the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE), Mr Muda Yusuf, has warned.
He noted that structural inflationary pressures in the real economy remain pronounced despite improving macroeconomic stability.
In a policy brief released following the inflation report, he noted that headline inflation eased marginally, while month-on-month change moderated from 1.75 per cent to 1.66 per cent, indicating that headline inflation has largely plateaued.
According to him, the dominant concern in the latest inflation report is the renewed acceleration in food inflation.
This growth, he said, suggested that food prices have resumed an upward trajectory after a brief period of moderation.
Warning that a renewed increase in food inflation has significant economic and social implications, he stressed that food inflation remained the biggest driver of Nigeria’s cost-of-living crisis, stressing that rising food prices continue to erode household purchasing power, worsen poverty and food insecurity while weakening the inclusiveness of the current reform programme.
He maintained that sustained moderation in food prices is critical to improving citizens’ welfare and strengthening public confidence in the ongoing economic reforms.
Acknowledging the easing of core inflation as encouraging, he drew attention to the persistence of urban inflation.
At 16.08 per cent, urban inflation exceeded the national headline inflation rate of 15.91 per cent, while month-on-month urban inflation increased from 1.99 per cent to 2.13 per cent.
According to Mr Yusuf, the figures indicated that inflationary pressures remained particularly intense across urban centres.
He attributed the rising urban inflation partly to increasing population displacement from rural communities affected by insecurity, expressing worry that as more households migrate to urban areas, demand for housing, transportation, utilities and other essential services would increase, adding to inflationary pressures and creating additional urbanisation challenges.
Addressing insecurity in farming communities, he said, was important not only for protecting lives and property and boosting agricultural output but also for easing cost pressures in urban centres, adding that the June CPI data reinforced the view that Nigeria’s inflation challenge is predominantly structural rather than monetary.
On the monetary policy outlook, he said the data do not justify further monetary tightening, arguing that headline inflation has largely stabilised.
The CPPE chief expected the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) to retain the current monetary policy rate at its next meeting, adding that the priority is for monetary and fiscal authorities to work together to accelerate structural reforms to expand food supply, improve logistics, reduce energy and production costs, lower debt service costs, as well as strengthen domestic value chains.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
Additional shares of Sterling Financial Holdings Company Plc have been listed on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited.
The new equities were added to the company’s existing stocks on Customs Street on Thursday, July 16, 2026, a notice from the bourse confirmed.
Business Post reports the total new ordinary shares of Sterling Holdings listed yesterday were 13,812,239,000 units.
They were from the offer for subscription of 12,581,000,000 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each sold for N7.00 per share, which was oversubscribed by investors.
The financial institution brought the new shares to the stock exchange to increase its total issued and fully paid-up shares to 65,929,251,414 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each from 52,117,012,414 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each.
“Trading licence holders are hereby notified that an additional 13,812,239,000 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each of Sterling Financial Holdings Company Plc were on Thursday, July 16, 2026, listed on the daily official list of Nigerian Exchange Limited.
“The additional shares listed on NGX arose from the company’s offer for subscription of 12,581,000,000 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each at N7.00 per share.
“With the listing of the additional shares, the total issued and fully paid-up shares of Sterling Financial Holdings Company Plc have now increased from 52,117,012,414 to 65,929,251,414 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each,” the notice read.
By Adedapo Adesanya
President Bola Tinubu has signed a Presidential Executive Order on Virtual Assets Coordination, establishing a new framework to coordinate the regulation of virtual assets across government agencies as Nigeria seeks to curb fraud while supporting innovation in the digital economy.
The Executive Order, which takes immediate effect, creates a Virtual Asset Council chaired by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to harmonise oversight of cryptocurrencies, tokenised assets, stablecoins, and other digital assets without creating a new regulator.
As part of the new framework, the CBN will establish a regulatory sandbox that will allow eligible firms to test virtual asset products, blockchain solutions, and related services under regulatory supervision before they are introduced to the wider market.
The development was disclosed in a statement issued on Friday by the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Mr Bayo Onanuga.
According to the presidency, the Executive Order responds to the growing complexity of virtual assets, which increasingly cut across the traditional boundaries of currencies, securities, commodities, and payment systems.
The fragmented regulatory environment has left gaps that have exposed Nigeria to money laundering, terrorism financing, cybersecurity and data privacy risks, fraud, and revenue losses.
The government said some unregistered operators have exploited these regulatory gaps to defraud unsuspecting Nigerians, resulting in significant financial losses.
“The Order is designed to close these gaps through supervisory coordination, without introducing new layers of regulation or displacing the mandates of existing agencies,” the statement read.
Under the new framework, the Virtual Asset Council will be chaired by the CBN, with the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) serving as vice chairs. Other members include the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) and the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA).
The Council will provide policy direction, improve cooperation among participating agencies, and work with the Attorney General of the Federation to develop a harmonised legal and institutional framework for the sector.
The Executive Order also establishes a Virtual Asset Office, which will serve as the Council’s operational arm. The office will be domiciled at the CBN and will coordinate information sharing, applications, and reporting among the participating agencies through a shared supervisory technology platform.
The presidency stressed that the Executive Order does not create a new regulator or transfer statutory powers from existing agencies, clarifying that instead, each institution will continue to exercise its existing mandate while working within a coordinated framework.
Under the arrangement, registration of virtual asset businesses will depend on the nature of the service being offered.
Activities classified as securities will continue to be regulated by the SEC, while payment, settlement, custody, and other services involving non-security virtual assets will fall under the CBN.
Where there is uncertainty over regulatory jurisdiction, the Virtual Asset Council will determine the appropriate supervising agency.
“The sandbox will provide a controlled environment in which eligible operators can test and operate virtual asset products, services, and blockchain-based solutions under close supervision, enabling the participating agencies to assess the implications for monetary sovereignty, financial stability, market integrity, consumer protection, financial inclusion, and revenue administration before products reach the wider market,” the statement added.
According to the presidency, the sandbox will enable regulators to evaluate the implications of emerging products for financial stability, monetary sovereignty, consumer protection, financial inclusion, market integrity, and revenue administration.
The central bank is expected to announce further details of the sandbox.
