..Says Reversal Could Hurt Investor Confidence, FX Market
The Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprises (CPPE) has cautioned against reversing current Federal Government’s economic reforms in order to avert any negative consequencies of such action, stressing that doing so could undermine investor confidence in the economy, fiscal stability and the foreign exchange (FX) market.
In a statement issued on Sunday and signed by the Director/Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the organized private sector advocacy group, Dr. Muda Yusuf, the CPPE commended the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Prof. Taiwo Oyedele, for the clarity to the fiscal and macroeconomic outcomes of the reforms and addressing important concerns in the public discourse, following the presentation of the economic reforms scorecard at a media briefing last Wednesday in Abuja.
The OPS group noted the reforms haddelivered measurable gains, including stronger government revenues, greater stability in the FX market, improved external reserves, an expanded trade surplus, improved investor confidence even as the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) had rised to 3.89 percent in Q1 2026, from 3.13 Q1 2025.
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Describing this improvement in macroeconomic stability is a means, not an end, the CPPE advocated that the next phase must move decisively from stabilisation to productivity; from higher government revenues to better development outcomes; and from improving macroeconomic indicators to tangible gains in jobs, incomes and living standard.
According to the CPPE, reversing the reforms will be damaging to the economy.
It clarified: “It would undermine investor confidence, weaken fiscal stability, destabilise the foreign-exchange market and reintroduce distortions that the reforms were designed to correct. Such a reversal could trigger significant economic dislocations and erode the gains already achieved.
“The reform trajectory should therefore be sustained, while implementation is continuously refined in response to emerging realitie”, the OPS advocacy group added.
Specifically, it recommended that the next stage of the reforms should address the structural costs that continue to constrain productive activity, including electricity, logistics, insecurity, agricultural productivity, infrastructure, regulatory costs and the cost of capital.
Recalling that the electricity sector contracted by 15.3 percent in the first quarter of 2026, while manufacturing grew by 3.29 percent and agriculture by 3.15 percent, the Centre maintained that accelerating productive-sector growth would require a decisive reduction in the structural costs.
Also, it stated that the higher revenues available to state governments following the reforms should translate into visible development and welfare outcomes, rather than simply higher recurrent expenditure.
To ensure that the gains of the improved revenues impact positively on the citizens, the CPPE charged the citizens to demand measurable improvements in roads, healthcare, public transportation, education, agricultural infrastructure, security, power and enterprise support.
The OPS advocacy group also identified the high-interest-rate regime on lending by the banks as a major challenge for businesses, saying that stronger fiscal-monetary coordination should create room for a gradual easing of financing costs as inflation moderates without jeopardising macroeconomic stability.
