Nigeria foreign reserves rise sharply over 18 months

Nigeria's foreign exchange reserves grew substantially between the end of 2023 and mid-2025, reaching over 38.4 billion dollars.

The increase was disclosed by the chairman of the House Committee on National Planning and Economic Development. He represents the Yewa North/Imeko-Afon federal constituency.

Reserves stood at 32.9 billion dollars at the close of 2023. By June 2025 they had risen to 38.448 billion dollars, the lawmaker stated.

The same period also saw a significant narrowing of the federal fiscal deficit. This development points to an improvement in the government's budgetary position.

Nigeria operates a managed float exchange-rate regime and relies heavily on oil exports for foreign currency inflows. The country has faced recurrent pressure on its reserves in recent years because of fluctuating global oil prices, import demand and periodic restrictions on foreign exchange access.

A higher reserve level typically provides greater capacity to defend the naira, meet external obligations and cushion the economy against external shocks. The reported improvement comes amid ongoing reforms aimed at stabilising the macroeconomic environment.

The figures were made public in June 2025. They reflect data available at that time and do not include later developments.

Nigeria remains Africa's largest economy by nominal GDP. Its external reserves are managed by the Central Bank of Nigeria, which uses them to support monetary policy objectives and maintain import cover.

Based on reporting by Daily Trust.