Nigeria’s foreign exchange reserves have risen to $55.25 billion as of September 18, 2026, the highest level in 18 years, according to fresh figures released by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The development was contained in the communiqué issued after the 307th meeting of the CBN’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) on Tuesday.
The reserves, according to the apex bank, are now sufficient to finance 11.3 months of imports of goods and services, reflecting a significant improvement in the country’s external position.
The CBN also reported a sharp increase in Nigeria’s current account surplus, which rose by 67.92 per cent from $4.49 billion in the first quarter of 2026 to $7.54 billion in the second quarter.
Similarly, the country’s balance of payments surplus increased from $2.38 billion in the first quarter to $3.51 billion in the second quarter of the year.
CBN Governor, Olayemi Cardoso, said the stronger external position had contributed to increased stability in the foreign exchange market.
According to him, foreign exchange pressures had “receded significantly” as Nigeria continued to rebuild its external buffers.
The apex bank also announced a reduction in the benchmark Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) from 26.5 per cent to 23 per cent, as part of measures to reset monetary policy and recalibrate the policy corridor.
The latest figures point to improved external-sector indicators, although the CBN’s data do not by themselves establish that all of the improvement was caused solely by the Federal Government’s economic reform programme. The Bank’s published material identifies reserve accumulation and foreign-exchange-market stability as key areas of its reform agenda.
The CBN maintains an official statistics database covering monetary, external-sector, fiscal and real-sector indicators, including foreign reserves and balance-of-payments data.
