Nigeria’s Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, has called for reforms to the global financial system to guarantee fairer access to capital, reduce borrowing costs and attract more investment to developing economies. In a statement issued by Maryann Duke, Senior Special Assistant on Communications and……
Nigeria’s Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, has called for reforms to the global financial system to guarantee fairer access to capital, reduce borrowing costs and attract more investment to developing economies.
In a statement issued by Maryann Duke, Senior Special Assistant on Communications and Press Secretary to the Minister, Oyedele made the call while speaking at the Global Financial System Session of the 17th Bosphorus Summit in Istanbul, Türkiye, on Friday, November 6, 2026.
He said the existing global financial architecture must evolve to address inequalities in access to finance, noting that developing countries collectively pay an estimated $500 billion more annually in borrowing costs than advanced economies.
Oyedele described the disparity as a “prejudice premium”, arguing that countries should be assessed based on credible economic fundamentals rather than perceptions that exaggerate investment risks.
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Highlighting Nigeria’s economic reforms under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the minister cited exchange rate unification, fuel subsidy removal and comprehensive tax reforms as difficult but necessary measures that are yielding encouraging results.
He said Nigeria recorded about 4.43 per cent economic growth in the second quarter of 2026, alongside four consecutive months of moderating inflation and foreign reserves exceeding $55 billion.
Oyedele also disclosed that private capital inflows had increased from about $300 million in 2023 to nearly $6 billion in 2026.
He stressed that economic stability should ultimately be measured by its capacity to generate jobs, improve incomes and expand opportunities, adding that Nigeria’s new seven-pillar Economic Policy Framework is designed to sustain sound economic policies beyond individual administrations.
Drawing on five priorities reinforced at the G-24 Ministers and Governors meeting in Bangkok, which he chaired, Oyedele called for a more representative International Monetary Fund, stronger private capital mobilisation by multilateral development banks, fairer credit assessments and faster, more predictable debt resolution.
He also advocated climate financing arrangements that would not deepen the debt vulnerabilities of developing countries, while reiterating the G-24’s call for at least $300 billion in annual climate finance by 2035.
The minister warned that employment pressures could pose a growing threat to global stability, citing World Bank projections that approximately 1.2 billion young people would enter developing economies’ labour markets over the next decade, against an estimated 400 million new jobs.
On investment partnerships, Oyedele said Nigeria and Türkiye were working towards expanding bilateral trade to $5 billion.
He also highlighted the Projects Nigeria initiative, which has identified 65 investment opportunities valued at approximately $78.5 billion, explaining that the projects were structured to attract genuine risk-sharing partnerships rather than additional sovereign borrowing.
Oyedele urged developing countries to sustain credible domestic reforms while calling on international financial institutions to ensure fairer access to capital and more objective assessments of investment risks.
He maintained that modernising the global financial system was essential to supporting investment, productive economic activity and inclusive prosperity.
“For Nigeria, stability was our first test; growth that creates jobs is our next,” he said.
