Bismarck Rewane, the Managing Director of Financial Derivatives Company Limited, has described President Bola Tinubu’s 15% inflation target for 2025 as “aspirational” and “bullish.”
Rewane made this statement on Thursday during the Business Morning segment of Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily breakfast show.
In his budget presentation before the National Assembly on December 18, 2024, President Tinubu expressed confidence that Nigeria’s inflation rate would decrease from 34.6% to 15% by 2025.
However, Rewane argued that the President’s target is unrealistic. “The target is an aspiration; the reality, as we see it, is that inflation may drop from about 35% to around 27% or 25%. A 15% inflation rate is very optimistic and aspirational, but we are free to dream big,” he said. “In the world of reality, we are more likely to see inflation between 27% and 25%. I would bet on that outcome rather than a much more optimistic one.”
When Tinubu assumed office in May 2023, Nigeria’s inflation rate stood at 22.41%, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). By November 2024, the rate had surged to 34.6%, a jump of over 12%, a development that many economists attribute to Tinubu’s policies, including the removal of the petrol subsidy and the unification of foreign exchange rates.
