Nigeria to Shift Growth Financing to Private Capital, Rules Out Petrol Subsidy Return

Nigeria will increasingly rely on private investors at home and abroad to finance its next phase of growth rather than state borrowing, Finance Minister Taiwo Oyedele said Wednesday, while ruling out any return to petrol subsidies. "The next phase of growth will be financed by private capital, domestic and foreign, and not by the state borrowing more," Oyedele said at an event hosted by think tank Chatham House in London. Oyedele said Nigeria had been living on "borrowed money, and increasingly, borrowed time," but that this was ending, adding: "The petrol subsidy is gone and it is staying gone." He also said inflation, which has fallen to 14.63% from 21% a year ago, needs to reach "low single digits over the next coming months."