• Maman Laouali Abdou Rafa was appointed economy and finance minister on January 26, 2026.

• He previously served as BCEAO national director for Niger and held senior finance ministry roles.

• The IMF projects Niger’s growth at 6.6% in 2025 after a rebound in 2024.

By decree signed on January 26, by Niger’s President Abdourahamane Tiani (pictured), Maman Laouali Abdou Rafa was appointed minister of economy and finance. The move ends the interim management of the strategic portfolio by Prime Minister Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine, who had held the position since August 2023.

Until his appointment, Abdou Rafa served as national director for Niger at the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO). The role placed him at the center of monetary, financial, and macroeconomic issues at both national and regional levels.

Trained in economics at the University of Ouagadougou, he joined the BCEAO in 2005 as a macroeconomist. He later held positions as section head, head of the studies and statistics department, advisor to the national director, and then national director. In these roles, he contributed to macroeconomic frameworks, public finance monitoring, monetary statistics production, and regional economic integration within WAEMU and ECOWAS.

Long experience at the core of economic and financial policy

Maman Laouali Abdou Rafa is familiar with Niger’s state apparatus. He has held several senior positions at the Ministry of Finance, including director general of financial operations and reforms, deputy secretary general, and secretary general of the ministry. Between 2015 and 2021, he served as permanent secretary of the Interministerial Committee for Monitoring State Debt Policy and Negotiating Budget Support (CISPEENAB), with the rank of senior advisor to the prime minister. In that capacity, he played a central role in public debt monitoring, coordination of budget support, and financial relations between Niger and the IMF, the World Bank, the African Development Bank, the European Union, and the French Development Agency.

His academic and professional background has given him strong expertise in macroeconomics and microeconomics, development management, and quantitative techniques, including statistics and econometrics.

As head of the economy and finance ministry, he will be tasked with preparing economic growth while managing current challenges, as Niger’s economy shows resilience despite political instability, conflict, and extreme climate events.

The IMF reports that Niger recorded a 10.3% rebound in 2024, driven by the extractive sector, and is expected to post growth of 6.6% in 2025. The Bretton Woods institution urges the authorities to maintain strict budget discipline, strengthen revenue mobilization, improve the quality of public spending, and ensure transparent management of oil revenues. It also recommends a prudent debt policy focused on concessional financing to limit the risk of over-indebtedness.

Sandrine Gaingne