Nigeria's central bank has today announced its first rate cut since 2020 from 27.5% to 27% on the back of easing - if still biting - inflation.
Inflation has calmed in the west African economic giant five months in a row, though at 20.1% year-on-year in August, price increases are still a major concern for millions grinding through the worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation.
The cut in the Central Bank of Nigeria's key lending rate is welcome news for the government.
President Bola Tinubu has embarked on a raft of reforms including liberalising the naira exchange rate and ending costly fuel subsidies.
Economists consider the reforms long overdue, and data released yesterday showed 4.2% GDP growth year-on-year for the second quarter of 2025, up from 3.1%in the first quarter.
But the country has been battling crushing inflation.
Tinubu hopes to attract international investment to Africa's fourth-largest economy.
Oil production has increased as authorities crack down on theft and pipeline vandalism, while the government has promised that tax reform laws passed earlier this year will increase revenues.
But state governments have been slow to implement promised minimum wage increases meant to offset inflation, while those in the informal sector fall outside such protections entirely.
Millions live in poverty in Nigeria, where corruption is endemic and successive governments have been accused of squandering the country's vast oil wealth.
