CBN: Nigeria’s FX supply rises 20.5% to $8.94 billion in 2025

Nigeria’s foreign exchange supply rose by 20.5% to $8.94 billion in 2025, from $7.43 billion recorded in 2024.

This is according to the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) 2025 Statistical Bulletin.

The increase was driven by higher monthly inflows during several periods of the year, although the annual supply remained well below levels recorded in earlier years of the CBN’s historical series.

As of the time of filing this report, checks on the database showed that the apex bank had yet to provide a sectoral breakdown of the sources of foreign exchange supplied during the year, making it difficult to determine the specific contribution of each source to the increase.

Nigeria’s FX supply monthly breakdown

The monthly data show that FX supply was relatively weak at the beginning of 2025 before strengthening in the second quarter.

• Supply stood at $590.64 million in January and $607.63 million in February before rising to $1.04 billion in March and $1.65 billion in April.
• It subsequently moderated to $838.93 million in May and $676.31 million in June, before increasing to $759.02 million in July.
• FX supply stood at $677.84 million in August and declined further to $399.80 million in September. October recorded the lowest monthly supply of the year at $150.10 million, before inflows recovered to $638.38 million in November and $910.73 million in December.
• Overall, the 12 monthly figures add up to $8.94 billion for 2025, compared with about $7.43 billion in 2024.

The increase of approximately $1.51 billion represents a 20.5% year-on-year rise.

FX utilisation and inflows expand

The increase in FX supply came against a much larger volume of foreign exchange utilisation during the year.

Nairametrics previously reported that Nigeria’s FX utilisation rose to $50.93 billion in 2025, the highest annual level since 2019.

• The difference between the broader FX utilisation figure and the supply series highlights the different measures captured by the CBN datasets and the scale of activity across Nigeria’s foreign exchange market.
• The CBN also reported that total FX inflows into Nigeria reached $109.86 billion in 2025, up 13.81% from $96.53 billion in 2024.
• Aggregate FX outflows increased by 27.83% 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 during the period.

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 increase in capital inflows, alongside higher FX supply and stronger external reserves, points to increased foreign exchange availability across different segments of the economy, although the CBN’s supply data do not identify how much came from individual sectors or sources.

What you should know

The increase in annual FX supply comes as activity in Nigeria’s foreign exchange market has remained volatile.

The Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market (NFEM) recorded a particularly strong week in August 2026, when transactions across the FX Spot and Derivatives markets rose 146.12% to $5.06 billion in the week ended August 21.

However, turnover subsequently weakened, with NFEM transactions falling to $107.07 million on September 7.

Meanwhile, Nigeria’s external reserves crossed $54 billion in September 2026, reaching $54.08 billion on September 3, the first time reserves had exceeded that level since December 2008.