The International Monetary Fund has predicted that the global trade tensions and financial market volatility could erode Nigeria’s revenue from commodity exports and complicate its external financing outlook if necessary precautions are not taken.
The warning came during the Global Financial Stability Report press briefing held on April 22, 2025, as part of the ongoing IMF/World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington D.C.
Speaking at the event, Jason Wu, Assistant Director of the IMF’s Monetary and Capital Markets Department, stated thus:
“In the case of Nigeria, macroeconomic performance has held up, GDP growth has been fairly consistent, and inflation has been coming down,” Wu said. “Earlier this year, we saw Nigeria’s sovereign credit spreads lowering. I think the reforms that the authorities have done, including the liberalisation of exchange rates, has helped in that regard.”
“This is when we might see increases in sovereign spreads that will challenge the external picture for Nigeria,” Wu added. “Nigeria’s sovereign spread has increased in recent weeks as stock markets globally have declined.”
“If trade tensions are going to lead to lower global demand for commodities, this will obviously weigh on the revenue that they will receive”
“Authorities should remain quite vigilant to these developments and take appropriate policies to counter them.”