LONDON, Oct 21 (Reuters) – Nigeria will increasingly turn to private investors at home and abroad to finance its next phase of growth rather than relying on state borrowing, Finance Minister Taiwo Oyedele said on Wednesday, while ruling out any return to petrol subsidies.
“The next phase of growth will be financed by private capital, domestic and foreign, and not by the state borrowing more,” Oyedele said during an event at think tank Chatham House.
Nigeria had been living on “borrowed money, and increasingly, borrowed time”, but that was coming to an end.
“The petrol subsidy is gone and it is staying gone,” he added.
Oyedele also said inflation, which has fallen to 14.63% from 21% a year ago, needed to reach “low single digits over the next coming months.”
(Reporting by Libby George, writing by Karin Strohecker)
