…As External Debt Servicing Gulps $2.86Bn In 8 Months
Nigeria’s current account surplus rose to $5.28 billion in the second quarter of 2025, up from $2.85 billion recorded in the first quarter, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has reported.
The apex bank, in a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document published Tuesday on its website, also disclosed that that Nigeria’s gross external reserves increased to $43.05 billion as of September 11, which is adequate to cover 8.28 months of imports.
The latest figures, which are reflecting stronger external resilience and improved foreign exchange inflows, are boosting citizens, investors, and other economic agents’ confidence in the nation’s economy.
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The CBN attributed the improvement to sustained exchange rate stability, tighter monetary policy, and a moderation in petroleum product prices, which have combined to strengthen the country’s balance of payments outlook.
According to the apex bank, as at September 25, the nation’s external reserves had risen to over $42 billion, the highest in over six years as the last time reserves remained close to the present accruals was September 27, 2019, when the reserves hit $41.99 billion.
The latest CBN data reflected that the reserves gained $692 million in just 18 days, maintaining an upward trend since July 14, 2025.
On its monetary policy measures and the impact on the economy, the apex bank recalled that its Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) recently reduced the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) for commercial banks from 50 per cent to 45 per cent to ease liquidity pressure and allow more productive lending, and also introduced a 75 per cent CRR on non-Treasury Single Account (TSA) public sector deposits to mop up excess liquidity.
The CBN clarified: “The reduction seeks to ease the liquidity burden on commercial banks, thereby providing more room for productive lending and intermediation.
“This measure ensures that these deposits do not contribute to inflationary pressure, which could undermine the current momentum of disinflation”, it added.
The CBN assured that depositors would continue to have full access to their funds as banks remained strongly positioned to be fulfilling their obligations.
This is even as it restated its commitment to balancing inflation control with credit support to the real sector, especially micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), stressing that conventional policy tools are being deployed to anchor inflation expectations and ensure financial system stability.
It also promised to continue providing short-term liquidity support to banks through the Standing Lending Facility to safeguard systemic stability.
In a related report, the apex bank disclosed that Nigeria spent $2.86bn servicing external debt in the first eight months of 2025, accounting for 69.1 per cent of the country’s total foreign payments of $4.14bn in the period.
According to the international payment data from the bank, in the corresponding period of last year, the nation’s debt service totalled $3.06bn, representing 70.7 per cent of total foreign payments of $4.33bn.
While the absolute value of debt service fell by $198m between 2024 and 2025, the share of debt in overall foreign payments has remained persistently high, with about seven out of every ten dollars leaving the country used to meet debt obligations.
A further analysis of the figures on monthly basis showed that in January 2025, $540.67m was spent compared with $560.52m in January 2024,and in February 2025 $276.73m was spent, slightly below the $283.22m in February 2024.
In March this year, the debt servicing sum surged to $632.36m and in April 2025, payments rose to $557.79m, which was $342.59m or 159 per cent higher than the $215.20m spent in the same month last year
However, in May 2025 debt payments stood at $230.92m, lower than the $854.37m paid in May last year but in June 2025 it rose to $143.39m compared with $50.82m in June 2024.
In July 2025 the debt servicing payments dipped to $179.95m, lower by $362.55m or 66.8 per cent than the $542.5m in July 2024, and by August this year, debt service payment had risen to $302.3m, which was $22.35m or 8 per cent higher than the $279.95m used for debt servicing in August 2024.
