Nigeria’s business environment recorded a modest improvement in May 2026, as the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) Business Confidence Monitor (BCM) Index rose to 104.6 points from 102.1 points in April.
- +Nigeria Business Confidence Index shows fragile expansion in May 2026 at 104.6
The increase reflects continued expansion in private sector activity, although growth remains fragile and uneven across sectors.
The increase reflects continued expansion in private sector activity, although growth remains fragile and uneven across sectors.
According to the NESG Business Confidence Monitor report, the improvement was largely driven by increased consumer spending during the festive season, which supported business activity in several key sectors.
However, performance remained inconsistent as structural constraints continued to weigh on overall operations.
Despite the monthly gain, the index remains below the 109.8 points recorded in May 2025, highlighting weaker year-on-year sentiment and persistent economic pressures across industries.
The NESG Business Confidence Monitor (BCM) Index for May 2026 remains below 109.8 points recorded in May 2025, showing weaker year-on-year performance.
Overall, the data shows a fragile recovery driven largely by short-term demand rather than broad structural improvements.
The NESG Business Confidence Monitor tracks monthly business sentiment across Nigeria’s key economic sectors, reflecting both current performance and near-term expectations. The May 2026 reading continues a pattern of uneven recovery, where sectoral gains are offset by persistent weaknesses in other areas.
Manufacturers, despite strong output growth, continued to face structural bottlenecks such as unreliable electricity supply, raw material shortages, weak infrastructure, and limited access to credit, all of which constrained investment and increased production costs.
The NESG Future Business Expectation Index stood at 127.0 points in May 2026, reflecting continued optimism among businesses about the short-term outlook despite current challenges.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported that Nigeria’s economy recorded a real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of 3.89% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2026.
In nominal terms, aggregate GDP at basic prices rose to N110.79 trillion in Q1 2026 from N94.05 trillion in Q1 2025, representing a nominal year-on-year growth of 17.79 per cent.
The economy remained broadly driven by non-oil activities, although the oil sector also posted moderate growth despite lower production volumes during the quarter.
