It was Harold Wilson, the former British Prime Minister, who said one week is a long time in politics. The era of the current Nigerian administration has been, to put it mildly, eventful, with a flurry of policies, guidelines, and sometimes reversals and suspension of decisions. But as they say, time flies fast when you are in good company.
Looking at the macroeconomic scorecard, one can only say the results have been, at best, mixed. There were some good decisions made out of sequence, and some not-so-good decisions, leading to unintended consequences.
Expectedly, the economy is challenged
In general, the view is that the economy is facing some daunting challenges. In trying to press the reset button, it is important to stress that policy changes without institutional reform usually leads to suboptimal outcomes.
The future looks hopeful
We expect this administration to urgently focus on reforming major institutions and ensuring talent infusion into the government and MDAs. There is likely to be refinancing of some of the external debt with a more efficient mix of long-term and multilateral financing. Overall, we expect 2025 to be a better year than 2024.
Financial Derivatives Company Limited, led by Bismarck Rewane, is based in Lagos.
