Nigeria could save 3.9 trillion naira ($5.10 billion) this year alone after reforms to its foreign exchange market and removal of petrol subsidy, the World Bank said on Tuesday

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, who is embarking on the country’s biggest reforms in decades to tackle issues including a high debt burden, scrapped the popular but expensive subsidy when he took office last month.

The central bank has unified the country’s exchange rates, following Tinubu’s criticism of a currency regime that had hampered Africa’s biggest economy for years.

World Bank lead economist for Nigeria Alex Sienaert said “the FX and subsidy reforms stopped Nigeria from going over the cliff,” adding that this “set the stage for an upward trajectory in fiscal conditions.”

Nigerians will learn if the intention of the reform is genuine