{"id":31695,"date":"2026-04-13T14:06:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T12:06:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=31695"},"modified":"2026-04-13T14:06:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T12:06:16","slug":"nigeria-seeks-imf-world-bank-support-as-iran-shock-hits-reforms","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/nigeria-seeks-imf-world-bank-support-as-iran-shock-hits-reforms\/","title":{"rendered":"Nigeria seeks IMF, World Bank support as Iran shock hits reforms"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"x_elementToProof\">Nigeria will seek stronger international financial support at this week&#8217;s International Monetary Fund (IMF) Bank \u200cSpring Meetings as the Iran war lifts fuel costs at home and complicates reforms, its Finance Minister said on Monday.<\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\">Surging crude prices had some clear benefits for Africa&#8217;s \u200btop oil producer, boosting foreign exchange earnings, Wale Edun said in \u200ba statement ahead of this week&#8217;s meetings in Washington.<\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\">&#8220;But the \u2060shock comes at a critical transition point, intensifying inflationary pressures and \u200braising living costs for households,&#8221; he added.<\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\">Petrol prices have surged more than \u200b50% to $0.9788 per litre and diesel more than 70% since the start of the conflict, hurting people and businesses, Edun said.<\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\">The jolting \u200bchange threatened to derail reforms launched in 2023 to stabilise the economy \u200band revive growth.<\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\">President Bola Tinubu has rolled out Nigeria&#8217;s most ambitious economic overhaul in \u200cdecades \u2060by ending costly fuel and energy subsidies, devaluing the currency and changing the tax system.<\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\">At this week&#8217;s meetings, Edun, who chairs the G24 group of developing countries, said he planned to push for lower borrowing costs, \u200bfairer global financial conditions \u200band more \u2060support for countries pursuing reforms.<\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\">Nigeria&#8217;s benchmark Bonny Light crude grade climbed from about $70 to $73 a barrel before the conflict \u200bto current levels above $120, the government said.<\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\">Inflation eased sharply \u200bto 15.06% \u2060in February from around 33% in December 2024, but remains high compared with regional peers and has come under renewed pressure since the conflict began, \u2060the \u200bWorld Bank said last week.<\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\">Edun said the \u200bgovernment would focus on attracting private investment, creating jobs and sustaining growth, while shielding vulnerable households \u200bfrom rising prices.<\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\"><\/div>\n<div>&#8211;Reuters&#8211;<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":29974,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-31695","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"","published_date":"","news_description":"Nigeria will seek stronger international financial support","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/31695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/31695\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31697,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/31695\/revisions\/31697"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=31695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}