The Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Kristalina Georgieva, on Tuesday, urged the Nigerian government to scale up social spending, improve food security and promote inclusive growth in Nigeria.
The IMF boss made the call in a closed-door meeting with Nigerian officials Tuesday on the sidelines of the ongoing World Bank and IMF meetings in Washington.
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Ms Georgieva met with the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Olayemi Cardoso, and Nigeria’s Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, and other Nigerian government functionaries.
“Great meeting with Nigeria @FinMinNigeria Minister Edun and @cenbank Governor Cardoso. I applauded the Nigerian government’s economic reform efforts. We strongly agreed on the need to scale up social spending, continue efforts to improve food security and promote inclusive growth,” Ms Georgieva wrote on her official X handle.
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Nigeria’s annual inflation rate rose to 24.23 per cent in March from 23.18 per cent in February 2025, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said earlier in the month.
The statistics office said the March 2025 headline inflation rate showed an increase of 1.05 per cent compared to the February 2025 headline inflation rate. But on a month-on-month basis the headline inflation rate in March 2025 was 3.90 per cent, which was 1.85 per cent higher than the rate recorded in February 2025 (2.04 per cent).
Meanwhile, the NBS said the food inflation rate in March 2025 was 21.79 per cent on a year-on-year basis. However, on a month-on-month basis, the Food inflation rate was 2.18 per cent, up by 0.50 per cent compared to February 2025 (1.67 per cent).
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The report said the increase can be attributed to the rate of increase in the average prices of ginger (fresh), garri (yellow), broken rice (ofada), honey (natural production), crabs, potatoes, plantain flour, periwinkle (unshelled), pepper (fresh), etc.
Nigeria has experienced a sharp increase in food prices in recent years, a trend that worsened in 2023 following President Bola Tinubu’s removal of petrol subsidies and the adoption of a floating exchange rate for the naira.
This shift has led to a steep increase in the cost of staple food, pushing many Nigerians further into poverty and heightening food insecurity.
READ ALSO: IMF downgrades Nigeria’s economic growth forecast
The persistent price surge over the past year has led to several farms and businesses closing, with many agricultural producers scaling back their output due to insecurity and unpredictable weather conditions affecting rural areas. There have equally been hunger protests across sections of the country.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Ms Georgieva pledged to continue working with the Nigerian government to support its economic reforms.
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