The Independent Media and Policy Initiative (IMPI) has forecasted that Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will grow by 5.5% in 2026 Full-Year.
According to the policy group, this is a result of the new economic model deployed by President Bola Tinubu.
This was disclosed in an economic policy statement signed by its chairman, Dr Omoniyi Akinsiju, revealing that its 5.5% GDP growth projection would surpass that of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which had earlier projected a GDP growth of 4.49%, 4.4% and 4.4%, respectively.
IMPI said,
“We made it clear that the Nigerian economy under the current administration had engendered a paradigm shift from perennial dependency on crude oil earnings to policy-driven economic facilitation. This refers to the deliberate use of governmental policies, regulations, and institutional frameworks to reduce obstacles, lower costs, and speed up economic activities, particularly in trade and investment. The facilitation, in this context, aims to foster sustainable, inclusive growth by improving efficiency and reducing red tape.
Seven months after that questionable projection by the International Monetary Fund, we have seen a volte-face.
In an epiphany-like realisation, the IMF now speaks of a resurgent Nigerian economy as reflected in the global multilateral institution’s revised Nigerian economic outlook to a projected 4.4% economic growth for 2026.
This is the highest GDP growth projection by the IMF over the last 17 years, a real expression of confidence in the Nigerian economy.”
The think tank also referenced the consensus on Nigeria’s growth prospects, which it attributed to the economic model adopted by the Tinubu administration.
Beyond the IMF’s new GDP projection, we have observed a consensus around a higher than 4% economic growth performance expectation of the Nigerian economy by virtually all known individual and public economic commentators.
While the Nigerian government projected 4.68% growth in 2026, the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry projected a massive 7%, 1.5% higher than the Nigeria Economic Summit Group’s 5.5% for the year.
PwC sustained the conservative threshold by projecting a 4.3% growth conditioned on higher oil prices, while the World Bank also revised its earlier 3.7% projection to 4.4%.”
