Economic Management Team Harmonises Macroeconomic

The federal government’s Economic Management Team (EMT) has approved the establishment of an inter-agency committee to harmonise the macroeconomic assumptions used in budgeting, economic planning and policy coordination.

Key Highlights:

• EMT approved a committee to harmonise government economic and budget assumptions.
• Nigeria’s GDP grew 4.43% in Q2 2026, while reserves rose above $54 billion.
• Naira strengthened to around N1,300/$, with Nigeria set to return to the FTSE frontier market index.
• Government targets agriculture and investment growth, including more financing for farmers.
• Nigeria aims for a $1 trillion economy by 2030, with stronger coordination of economic policies.

The decision was taken at the EMT’s meeting in Abuja, on Monday, September 7, 2026, where the team also reviewed developments in the economy and strategies for boosting agriculture, trade, investment and manufacturing.

The new committee will harmonise key projections, including crude oil prices and production, exchange rates, inflation and non-oil revenue, used by fiscal and monetary authorities in planning and budgeting.

According to the EMT, the move follows a joint budget retreat and technical validation workshop which identified inconsistencies in assumptions used by government agencies as one of the factors contributing to budget under-performance.

The committee is also expected to address inconsistencies in the way major economic indicators are calculated and reported within government, to external stakeholders and to the public.

The EMT was briefed that Nigeria’s real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 4.43 percent year-on-year in the second quarter of 2026, representing the strongest quarterly growth since the third quarter of 2024, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

The team also noted that the country’s external reserves had risen above $54 billion in early September, which it described as the highest level in almost 18 years based on Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) data.
The naira has also strengthened to levels in the N1,300 range to the dollar, while the reserve accumulation continues, according to the government.

The EMT further noted that FTSE Russell had scheduled Nigeria’s reclassification from “unclassified” to “frontier market” status effective from the market opening on September 21, 2026.

The move would mark Nigeria’s return to the index after about three years and is expected to increase the visibility of Nigerian equities among international investors.

The team was also briefed that Nigeria’s public debt remained below 40 percent of GDP, while Moody’s sovereign credit outlook had moved from stable to positive.

The EMT noted that Nigeria’s economy, when measured by purchasing power parity, is valued at more than $2.2 trillion, significantly above its nominal dollar GDP.

According to the team, the figure highlights the economy’s potential to move towards the government’s ambition of achieving a $1 trillion nominal GDP by 2030.

The team approved a revised Terms of Reference that expands its responsibilities to include macroeconomic performance reviews, stronger coordination between fiscal and monetary authorities, monitoring of Renewed Hope Agenda priorities and periodic assessment of the Federal Government’s financing requirements.

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Also, the team agreed to meet monthly, with at least two strategic sector reviews to be conducted during each sitting.

To improve the consistency of official economic statistics, the Ministry of Finance will serve as the coordinating custodian of national economic data, while relevant government agencies will remain responsible for providing data from their respective sectors.

The arrangement is expected to improve coordination and ensure that official economic information released to the public is consistent across government institutions.

The EMT also reviewed a strategy aimed at increasing agriculture’s contribution to the government’s ambition of building a $1 trillion economy by 2030.

The strategy includes measures to reduce post-harvest losses, expand agricultural processing and mechanisation, strengthen export compliance and ensure that capital releases are better aligned with planting seasons.

The team also considered financing options for the sector, including plans to recapitalise the Bank of Agriculture and introduce a new credit window for smallholder farmers.

Another target is to increase agriculture’s share of private-sector credit to 10 percent by 2030.

The EMT reviewed Nigeria’s preparations to host the Creative Africa Nexus (CANEX) in November 2026 and the Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF) in November 2027, both in Lagos.

The events are expected to attract exhibitors, international buyers and, in the case of IATF, African heads of state, with organisers projecting significant trade and investment opportunities.

The Ministry of Finance was directed to coordinate funding and customs facilitation for the events.

It will work with the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment on a consolidated action plan assigning specific responsibilities to relevant ministers.

The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, said the decisions reached at the meeting were aimed at ensuring greater consistency between government projections and actual economic performance.

“Today’s decisions tighten the link between the numbers we plan with and the actual outturns,” the minister said.

According to the minister, adopting a single set of harmonised assumptions across fiscal and monetary authorities would reduce uncertainty in budget preparation and strengthen economic planning for investors and Nigerians.