Nigeria’s foreign exchange supply increased by 20.5 per cent to $8.94 billion in 2025 from $7.43 billion in 2024, according to the Central Bank of Nigeria’s 2025 Statistical Bulletin.
The rise was driven by higher monthly inflows in several periods of the year, although the annual total remained well below levels recorded in earlier years of the CBN’s historical series. At the time of reporting, the apex bank had not published a sectoral breakdown of the sources of foreign exchange supplied during the year, making it difficult to identify how much each source contributed to the increase.
Monthly Pattern Through 2025
Supply was relatively weak at the start of the year before strengthening in the second quarter. It stood at $590.64 million in January and $607.63 million in February, then rose to $1.04 billion in March and $1.65 billion in April.
It moderated to $838.93 million in May and $676.31 million in June, before climbing to $759.02 million in July. Supply was $677.84 million in August and fell further to $399.80 million in September. October recorded the lowest monthly figure of the year at $150.10 million, after which inflows recovered to $638.38 million in November and $910.73 million in December.
The 12 monthly totals sum to $8.94 billion for 2025, compared with about $7.43 billion in 2024 — an increase of approximately $1.51 billion, or 20.5 per cent year-on-year.
Utilisation and Broader Inflows
The increase in supply occurred against a much larger volume of foreign exchange utilisation. Nigeria’s FX utilisation rose to $50.93 billion in 2025, the highest annual level since 2019. The gap between the utilisation figure and the supply series reflects the different measures captured in the CBN datasets and the overall scale of activity in the foreign exchange market.
The Central Bank also reported that total FX inflows into Nigeria reached $109.86 billion in 2025, up 13.81 per cent from $96.53 billion in 2024. Aggregate FX outflows increased by 27.83 per cent to $49.05 billion from $38.37 billion, leaving a net FX inflow of $60.81 billion, compared with $58.16 billion in 2024.
Foreign investment provided another source of external financing. Data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed that Nigeria attracted $11.1 billion in capital importation during the second and third quarters of 2025. The rise in capital inflows, together with higher FX supply and stronger external reserves, points to greater foreign exchange availability across segments of the economy, even though the CBN’s supply data do not identify how much came from individual sectors or sources.
Market Context
The increase in annual FX supply comes as activity in Nigeria’s foreign exchange market has remained volatile. The Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market recorded a particularly strong week in August 2026, when transactions across the FX spot and derivatives markets rose 146.12 per cent to $5.06 billion in the week ended 21 August. Turnover later weakened, with NFEM transactions falling to $107.07 million on 7 September.
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s external reserves crossed $54 billion in September 2026, reaching $54.08 billion on 3 September the first time reserves had exceeded that level since December 2008.
