E-Financial
IMF Warns Nigeria of Vulnerability Amid slow Exit from Recession
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Wednesday said Nigeria was slowly exiting recession but remains vulnerable because its growth is tied to oil prices with improved revenues restricted to the energy and agriculture sectors.
The assessment, published in a report on Wednesday, came in its Article IV consultation, an annual appraisal of a country’s economy.
Nigeria emerged from its first recession in 25 years, largely caused by low oil prices and militant attacks on energy facilities, in the second quarter of 2017.
The recovery has largely been due to higher crude prices and improved production after attacks ceased. Crude oil sales make up around two-thirds of government revenue and the majority of foreign exchange.
“The Nigerian economy is slowly exiting recession but remains vulnerable,” said the lender in its report.
It said the economy had been helped by higher oil prices, improved access to foreign exchange and foreign reserves rising to a four-year high but said improvements had not yet boosted non-oil, non-agricultural activity.
“Lower oil prices, tighter external market conditions, heightened security issues, and delayed policy responses are the main downside risks,” it said.
The Fund also repeated its calls for Nigeria to lift its remaining foreign exchange restrictions and scrap its system of multiple exchange rates.
The IMF has for more than a year called for Nigeria to simplify its complex foreign exchange system, used to reduce the impact of dollar shortages, which has left large gaps between official rates and various windows that certain groups can use to access other rates.
The report said the Fund recommends “removing multiple currency practices and unifying the exchange rate as quickly as possible”. It said the move would increase confidence, remove market distortions, and increase transparency.
The OPEC member’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 0.83 percent in 2017 after shrinking by 1.58 percent in 2016, which was its first annual contraction in 25 years.
“Under the baseline scenario, growth would pick up to 2.1 percent in 2018, from 0.8 percent in 2017, helped by the full year impact of greater FX availability and recovering oil production,” the Fund said in the report.
The Fund’s 2018 growth projection is unchanged from an estimate announced by the lender in December.
Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) has called for comments from financial services industry stakeholders in the country, policy makers and the general public towards the ongoing revision of the International Association of Deposit Insurers (IADI) Core Principles for Effective Deposit Insurance System.
The proposed revision launched by IADI in May 2025, is a significant step towards enhancing the resilience and relevance of deposit insurance frameworks in the face of an evolving global financial landscape.
Specifically, the revision is aimed at comprehensively addressing structural changes, including digital innovation, the growing role of deposit insurers in resolution, and lessons learned from the banking turmoil in March 2023, which is the most significant systemic stress event since the 2007-09 global financial crisis.
The IADI Core Principles are used by jurisdictions, including Nigeria, as a benchmark for assessing the quality of their deposit insurance systems and for identifying gaps in their deposit insurance practices and measures to address them.
The Core Principles are also used by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank in the context of the Financial Sector Assessment Programme (FSAP), to assess the effectiveness of jurisdictions’ deposit insurance systems and practices.
The first set of the Core Principles was issued jointly by the IADI and the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) in June 2009 while the document is subjected to periodic revision order to keep it up-to-date with evolving trends on the global financial system landscape.
As a founding and committed member of IADI, NDIC recognises the importance of the ongoing revision and hereby invites stakeholders and the general public to actively participate in the process by reviewing the document on the lin
Onafriq, Africa’s largest digital payments network, has celebrated a major milestone, connecting nearly 1 billion mobile money wallets and 500 million bank accounts across the continent.
According to a statement released by the company, Onafriq has evolved from a mobile money switch to a comprehensive omnichannel payments network, facilitating seamless transactions and financial inclusion.
The company’s network now connects 961 million registered mobile wallets and 464 million registered bank accounts, with over 2,000 cross-border payment corridors supported.
Speaking on the achievement, Dare Okoudjou, Founder and CEO of Onafriq, said, “We remain fully committed to connecting every individual and business in Africa with each other and the world.”
Okoudjou noted that the company has grown in lockstep with the continent’s digital evolution, from mobile money to bank accounts, remittances, and real-time trade.
As Onafriq embarks on its next chapter, the company aims to develop infrastructure with local relevance while maintaining the scale of its pan-African infrastructure.
A prime example is Nigeria, where Onafriq is developing a unique payments stack that combines the strength of its cross-border network with the regulatory and foreign exchange realities of one of Africa’s most dynamic economies.
The company is also exploring blockchain infrastructure and stablecoin integrations to facilitate near-instant, programmable payments, aligning with the objectives of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
“We are increasingly focused on creating infrastructure with local depth,” Okoudjou said.
With extensive experience, wide reach, and a proven execution track record, Onafriq remains dedicated to building a payment infrastructure that unlocks prosperity across borders and within local communities.
United Bank for Africa (UBA) has informed its customers that, in compliance with a new directive from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), charges for USSD banking services will no longer be deducted from bank accounts, effective June 3, 2025.
In a notice sent to customers, the bank explained that the charges would now be deducted directly from users’ mobile airtime balances, in line with the NCC’s newly introduced End-User Billing (EUB) framework.
It said the new model aimed to ensure transparency in USSD transactions and shift billing responsibility to mobile network operators.
According to UBA, each USSD session would now cost ₦6.98 per 120 seconds, saying that customers initiating transactions would receive a prompt to provide consent at the start of each session, and airtime would only be debited if the bank is available to process the request.
The bank advised customers who are not comfortable with the new billing arrangement to opt for other digital banking alternatives such as the UBA mobile app and internet banking platform, which remain fully operational and user-friendly.
UBA reaffirmed its commitment to providing secure and accessible digital services, and encouraged customers to choose the channel that best suits their banking needs.
The policy marks a significant shift in Nigeria’s digital banking ecosystem and is expected to address longstanding disputes over USSD service charges between telecom operators and financial institutions.
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