Rewane: Tinubu’s 15% Inflation Target for 2025 “Aspirational”
Bismarck Rewane, the Managing Director of Financial Derivatives Company Limited, has described President Bola Tinubu’s inflation target of 15% for 2025 as “aspirational” and “bullish.”
Speaking on Channels Television’s Business Morning segment of the Sunrise Daily breakfast programme on Thursday, Rewane expressed skepticism about the feasibility of the target. During his presentation of the ₦49.7 trillion budget to the National Assembly on December 18, 2024, Tinubu expressed hope that Nigeria’s inflation rate would drop from 34.6% to 15% in 2025.
However, Rewane questioned the realism of such a target. “The target is aspirational,” he said. “The reality we foresee is that inflation could reduce from approximately 35% to somewhere between 27% and 25%. A 15% inflation rate is very bullish and aspirational, but in the world of reality, we expect it to be closer to 27% or 25%. I would bet on that more than on more optimistic scenarios.”
When President Tinubu assumed office in May 2023, Nigeria’s inflation rate stood at 22.41%, according to official data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). However, inflation surged to 34.6% by November 2024, an increase of more than 12%. This rise in inflation has been attributed to the President’s twin policies: the removal of the petrol subsidy and the unification of the country’s foreign exchange rates.
