Nigerian businesses maintained growth momentum in August 2025, but rising input costs and structural challenges continue to weigh on profitability, according to the NESG–Stanbic IBTC Business Confidence Monitor (BCM) released this month.
The BCM showed that the Current Business Index (CBI) rose to 107.3 points in August, up from 105.4 points in July, reflecting stronger activity across the manufacturing, services, trade, and non-manufacturing sectors.
However, agriculture slipped into contraction, falling to 95.6 points. Trade recorded the sharpest rebound, while manufacturing climbed to 106.2 points, non-manufacturing to 116.2 points, and services to 103.7 points.
Despite these gains, businesses reported mounting pressures from higher input costs, increased rents, poor electricity supply, limited financing, and insecurity, eroding margins across industries.
The report noted that key sub-indices such as investment, exports, access to credit, and prices also weakened compared to July.
Looking ahead, business leaders expressed cautious optimism.
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The Future Business Expectation Index rose to 131.5 points in August from 126.1 points in July, suggesting improved confidence about operating conditions over the next one to three months.
Stanbic IBTC analysts explained that August’s agricultural downturn was likely seasonal, with crop output declining during the lean period ahead of the September–October harvest.
“Within agriculture, crop production recorded the most significant decline. This is likely to reverse as harvest season sets in,” the bank noted.
The report also highlighted resilience in the manufacturing sector, which rebounded from July’s contraction, supported by growth in food, beverages, textiles, footwear, wood products, and paper-related industries.
Services maintained expansion for the sixth consecutive month, buoyed by improved FX liquidity, softer price pressures, and a relatively stable naira.
On the macroeconomic front, Stanbic IBTC said the industrial sector’s contribution to GDP rose sharply in Q1 2025, boosted by structural reforms and the impact of the Dangote Refinery, with projections of 3.5% GDP growth for 2025, slightly higher than the 3.4% recorded in 2024.
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