The Federal Government has established an inter-agency committee to harmonise key macroeconomic assumptions used in budgeting and economic planning, as part of efforts to improve fiscal coordination and accelerate economic growth.
The decision was taken at the Economic Management Team (EMT) meeting on Monday in Abuja. The statement issued by the ministry of finance was silent on the EMT meeting chairperson.
According to the statement, the new committee will harmonise critical assumptions covering crude oil prices and production, exchange rates, inflation and non-oil revenue projections used by fiscal and monetary authorities.
According to the EMT Secretariat, the move followed a joint budget retreat and technical validation workshop which identified inconsistencies in economic assumptions across government agencies as one of the factors contributing to budget under-performance.
The committee is also expected to address inconsistencies in the reporting of key economic indicators to government, external stakeholders and the public.
The EMT noted recent improvements in key economic indicators, with real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth reaching 4.43 per cent year-on-year in the second quarter of 2026.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) described the Q2 performance as the strongest quarterly growth since the third quarter of 2024.
The government also reported that external reserves had risen above $54 billion in early September, representing their highest level in almost 18 years, according to Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) data.
The naira has also strengthened to its firmest level in about two years, trading in the N1,300 range to the dollar in early September.
The EMT further welcomed the decision by FTSE Russell to reclassify Nigeria from “Unclassified” to “Frontier Market” status, effective September 21, 2026.
The reclassification marks Nigeria’s return to the index after about three years and is expected to improve the visibility of Nigerian equities among international investors.
The Team was also briefed that public debt remained below 40 per cent of GDP, while Nigeria’s sovereign credit outlook from Moody’s had improved from stable to positive.
The meeting also approved revised Terms of Reference for the EMT, expanding its responsibilities to include macroeconomic performance reviews, stronger fiscal and monetary policy coordination, monitoring of Renewed Hope Agenda priorities and periodic assessment of the Federal Government’s financing requirements.
Under the new framework, the EMT will meet monthly and undertake at least two strategic sector reviews at each sitting.
To strengthen the reliability and consistency of official economic statistics, the Ministry of Finance was designated as the coordinating custodian of national economic data, while relevant agencies will remain responsible for supplying data within their respective mandates.
