Posted Sun, Jun 1, 2025 4:57 PM

NESG Stanbic IBTC Business Confidence Monitor for May 2025

Download The NESG Stanbic IBTC BCM (2-Pager) Document

The Business Confidence Monitor (BCM) is the flagship survey-based report of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), supported by Stanbic IBTC. The report obtains qualitative information on the current business performance within the Nigerian economy and gauges expectations about overall economic activities in the short term. It is anchored on business managers’ optimism on key leading economic indicators such as investment, prices, demand conditions, employment, etc.

Businesses in Nigeria maintained a positive performance streak for the fifth consecutive month in 2025, as reflected in the May 2025 results of the Business Performance Index.

The Current Business Performance Index for May 2025 stands at +9.78, signalling mildly positive business activity, though slightly lower than the +12.29 recorded in April 2025.

Over the past three months, the key business challenges ranking has been largely unchanged. Persistent power supply shortages continue to be the most significant constraint on business growth, followed by limited access to finance, high commercial lease and rental costs, and restricted availability of foreign exchange.

Sectoral analysis revealed mildly positive outcomes across most sectors, except for Agriculture, which recorded a negative performance. Strong performances were noted in Non-manufacturing (+22.19), followed by Manufacturing (+14.43), Trade (+14.13), and Services (+4.49). In contrast, Agriculture posted a negative index of -1.77, primarily driven by existing structural issues and amplified by the intensified impacts of climate change, including prolonged droughts, erratic rainfall, extreme heat waves, and shorter wet seasons.

Compared to April 2025, all sectors experienced a slowdown in performance, except Manufacturing, which remained resilient.

Most BCM sub-indices showed lower values compared to the previous month. The general business situation remained positive, with reported improvements in production levels, operating profits, cash flow, and employment. However, the cost of doing business declined to +38.54 in May from +51.79 in April.

Notably, the most significant negative indicators were a sharp reduction in investment confidence (-25.61) and declining price levels (-18.15), contributing to slower business activity and growth during the month.

Key constraints to business expansion in May 2025 included persistent power supply shortages, limited access to financing, high commercial lease and rental costs, inadequate foreign exchange availability, inconsistent economic policies, and worsening insecurity. In particular, the resurgence of security challenges posed severe disruptions to business operations. Similarly, restricted access to finance has remained a structural bottleneck, further dampening business prospects.

Download The NESG Stanbic IBTC BCM (2-Pager) Document