The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has projected that Nigeria’s economy will grow faster than that of the United Kingdom and several advanced economies in 2025, following an upward revision of the country’s GDP growth forecast from 3.0 to 3.4 percent.
The revised projection was contained in the IMF’s latest World Economic Outlook report released on Tuesday. It marks a 0.4 percentage point increase from the Fund’s April 2025 estimate and places Nigeria ahead of countries like the UK (1.2%), Germany (0.1%), Canada (1.6%) and the United States (1.9%) in terms of expected economic expansion.
The report comes on the heels of a rebasing exercise conducted by Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), which updated the country’s GDP to N372.8 trillion ($243 billion) in 2024 from N314.02 trillion in the previous year. The recalculation was attributed to the inclusion of a broader range of informal sector activities.
Despite the upward revision, Nigeria remains the fourth-largest economy in Africa, behind South Africa, Egypt and Algeria. However, the IMF’s renewed outlook signals confidence in Nigeria’s macroeconomic reforms and the resilience of its economy.
The global lender also adjusted growth projections for other countries, with China rising from 4.0% to 4.8%, Mexico from -0.3% to 0.2%, Brazil from 2.0% to 2.3%, and India from 6.2% to 6.4%. In contrast, the gains for many advanced economies, including the US and UK, were marginal.
The IMF attributed the global forecast improvements to factors such as lower-than-expected US tariff rates, improved financial conditions, a weaker US dollar and fiscal expansions in major economies. Global growth is now projected at 3.0 percent for 2025, up from 2.8 percent earlier this year.