Businesses express confidence in macroeconomy, anticipate hiring more – CBN

By Elizabeth Adegbesan 

A Central Bank of Nigeria’s  (CBN) survey has shown that businesses anticipate hiring more workers this month even as they expressed their confidence in the macroeconomy in May 2025.

The report titled: “Business Expectation Survey”, noted that the Construction sector had the highest prospect for employment while the Mining & Quarrying sector had the highest prospect for expansion in June 2025.

It stated: “In line with the expected business expansion, businesses anticipate hiring more workers in June 2025.

“Analysis of the Sectors showed that the Construction sector had the highest prospect for employment while the Mining & Quarrying sector had the highest prospect for expansion in June 2025.”

According to CBN, the Confidence Index stood at 18.7 index points in the current month, reflecting the optimism of respondents regarding the macroeconomy.

The apex bank’s survey report, “This optimistic trend is projected to persist over the next six months, steadying at 41.1 index points.

“All the sectors expressed optimism on the business outlook of the macroeconomy in the current month with the Agriculture sector leading at 23.2 index points.

“The optimistic trend is expected to continue into the next six months with the confidence index of the Industry sector more than doubling in the next six months (42.2 index points).

“The positive outlook on the macroeconomy in the current month is influenced by the views of respondents from all regions.

“This optimism was highest in the North- East region at 36.2 index points and lowest in the South- East region at 2.3 index points.  

“The level of optimism in the South-East could be attributed mainly to the constraint imposed on businesses by insecurity.

“All Sectors expressed optimism on own operations in the review month with the

Construction sector leading with 16.7 index points”.

The report showed that businesses identified insecurity (74.5), high interest rate (73.9) and high taxes (73.4) as the top three business constraints in May 2025, highlighting concerns around factors that directly impact operational stability and profitability.

They also expect the Naira to dollar exchange rate to appreciate across the review periods, as indicated by a positive index. But they  anticipated an increase in the borrowing rate during the same period.