After years of a whirlwind, things have already started looking up for Nigeria according to a lenghty article by Bloomberg. Nigeria recorded its first balance of payments surplus in three years for 2024, as reforms including boosting oil and gas production, removing fuel subsidies and free-floating the naira paid off.
Africa’s largest oil producer posted a surplus of $6.83 billion in 2024, compared with a $3.34 billion deficit a year earlier. And on the strength of Dangote’s plant, Nigeria has become a net exporter of petroleum products for the first time in three decades. The facility is expected to run completely on local crude when the foreign supply contracts of domestic ¬producers expire this year. The refinery has the capacity to process 650,000 barrels of oil a day, meeting Nigeria’s entire petrol demand and leaving room for exports to grow.
Nigeria has also now paid off $3.4 billion borrowed from the International Monetary Fund during the Covid-19 pandemic, exiting the list of countries in debt to the Washington-based lender.