For more than two years, Nigerians have been told that painful economic reforms are the price of a better future. Fuel subsidies were removed. The naira was floated. Electricity tariffs increased. Interest rates climbed. Inflation squeezed household incomes. Through it all, the government maintained that these sacrifices were necessary to restore fiscal discipline, attract investment and put the economy on a stronger footing.
Now, a disclosure by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is raising a question that goes beyond politics. According to the IMF, government expenditure equivalent to about 2 percent of Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was omitted from recent budget documents. Christian Ebeke, the IMF’s Resident Representative in Nigeria, said the omission means “the fiscal deficit appears smaller than the government’s actual borrowing needs” because some capital expenditure was left outside the country’s budget framework.
That observation has opened a new debate about fiscal transparency at a time
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