Nigeria’s foreign reserves have surged to their strongest level in seven years, hitting $46.7bn as of November 14, 2025, the Central Bank of Nigeria, (CBN) announced yesterday.
The CBN Governor, Olayemi Cardoso, represented by the Deputy Governor in charge of Economic Policy, Dr. Muhammad Abdullahi, said the reserves had reached a new high level, the first time the country has attained such a level since 2018.
Speaking in Abuja at the 20th Anniversary of the Monetary Policy Department yesterday, Cardoso said the reserves milestone reflected renewed investor confidence, improved oil receipts and stronger balance-of-payments inflows.
“Foreign reserves have risen to $46.7bn as of November 14, 2025, providing 10.3 months of import cover in goods and services, supported by sustained inflows and renewed investor participation across various asset classes. This accretion reflects investor confidence in our policies leading to improved oil receipts, stronger balance of payments, and renewed foreign portfolio inflows”, Cardoso said.
He argued that the stronger reserve position was a key pillar behind the naira’s stabilisation, noting that the gap between the official and Bureau de Change windows had narrowed to below 2 per cent.
According to him, the currency’s recovery has encouraged foreign participation in Nigeria’s fixed-income and money markets, with investors responding to clearer policy signals and tighter monetary conditions.
Cardoso said the reforms driving foreign-currency inflows had also translated into sustained disinflation. According to him, Headline inflation eased to 16.05% in October 2025, from 34.6% at its peak in November 2024.
He described the fall as “seven consecutive months of disinflation” and “the lowest in three years,” adding that core inflation was also beginning to soften.
The governor said the broader improvement in Nigeria’s economic indicators had been recognised globally. “All three top international ratings agencies upgraded Nigeria”, he noted, citing S&P Global Ratings, which recently revised the country’s outlook from stable to positive.
He described Nigeria’s removal from the Financial Action Task Force Grey List as a further boost to international confidence, saying it demonstrated the country’s “full alignment with global standards”.
In his opening remarks, the CBN’s Director of the Monetary Policy Department, Dr Victor Oboh, said the country’s recent economic recovery had become strong enough for Nigerians to “see a brighter future” after years of instability.
Oboh said the past few years had offered the CBN “a natural experiment” in what happens when policy choices fail and when reforms begin to correct earlier mistakes, adding that ongoing reforms would eventually activate new signalling channels, improve monetary policy effectiveness and ensure clearer guidance for markets.
Nigeria’s reserve surge comes less than two weeks after the Federal Government raised $2.35bn from international markets in its latest dual-tranche Eurobond issuance. The fresh external inflow, alongside stronger FX receipts, helped lift reserves to $46.7bn, the highest level since 2018.
