High and multiple taxation remains the single biggest challenge confronting businesses across Nigeria, according to a new Central Bank of Nigeria survey, even after the Federal Government consolidated scores of taxes into fewer core statutes.

Findings from the CBN’s Business Expectations Survey for July 2026 showed that 70.8 percent of respondents identified high and multiple taxation as their most pressing constraint. Insecurity ranked second at 69.7 percent, while high interest rates came third at 66.3 percent.

Other significant hurdles cited by businesses included an unfavourable political climate (62.2 percent), high bank charges (62.0 per cent), competition (61.1 percent), unclear economic laws (58.4 percent), financial constraints (56.6 per cent) and poor infrastructure (55.1 percent).

The results underscore persistent difficulties for firms despite reforms introduced by the Tinubu administration.

Those reforms sought to simplify Nigeria’s tax landscape by merging more than 60 distinct taxes and over 200 informal levies into fewer than 10 core statutes under the Nigeria Tax Reform Acts. The changes included exempting individuals earning ₦800,000 or less annually from personal income tax, reducing company income tax for medium and large businesses to 25 percent, and exempting qualifying small businesses from major income taxes.

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Administration of the system has also shifted from the former Federal Inland Revenue Service to the Nigeria Revenue Service, with greater emphasis on digital coordination.

Yet the survey indicates that many businesses have yet to experience meaningful relief from the burden of overlapping taxes and levies. Taxation-related concerns continue to outweigh other structural problems, the report notes, highlighting the need for more effective implementation of the reform agenda.

On the macroeconomic front, respondents expressed growing optimism about the foreign exchange market. Businesses expect the naira to appreciate gradually against the U.S. dollar in the months ahead. Exchange-rate expectation indices rose from 4.7 for the current month to 16.1 for the next month, 25.8 over the next three months and 30.7 over the next six months.

Financing conditions, however, remain a source of caution. Respondents anticipate that borrowing rates will stay elevated in the near and medium term, with borrowing-rate indices holding steady around 18–19 points. This points to expectations of only a marginal decline in lending costs. The CBN observed that financing conditions may ease slightly but are likely to remain relatively tight.

Overall, the July survey paints a picture of improving exchange-rate expectations alongside stubborn concerns over the cost of doing business, with multiple taxation still dominating the list of constraints facing Nigerian firms.