The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has reported that Nigeria’s current account surplus rises by 67.9% to $7.54 billion in the second quarter of this year, from $4.49 billion in the preceding quarter, propped by stronger export receipts and higher diaspora remittances.
The apex bank’s just published ‘Provisional Balance of Payments Statistics For Q2 2026’ indicated that the surplus was 45.8% more than the $5.17 billion recorded in the corresponding period of 2025.
According to the report, the surge in the current account surplus is spurred by wider surplus recorded in goods account while the services and primary income accounts also reflected larger net outflows.
Specifically, the CBN disclosed that the goods account surplus rose to $10.12 billion in Q2 2026, from $5.96 billion in Q1 and $4.85 billion in Q2 2025.
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A further analysis of the data in the report showed that Nigeria’s total exports increased to $20.08 billion from $15.56 billion in the preceding quarter, driven by higher receipts across crude oil, natural gas, refined petroleum products and non-oil exports.
The CBN attributed the increase in exports to broad-based improvements as crude oil exports rose by 15.78% to $9.39 billion, while natural gas exports increased by 40.15% to $3.63 billion.
Similarly, the apex bank reported that exports of refined petroleum products recorded the strongest growth, rising by 66.24% to $3.94 billion, non-oil exports increased by 25.30% to $3.12 billion, while the goods account also benefited from a sharp decline in crude oil imports, which fell to $580 million in Q2 2026 from $1.39 billion in Q1.
The CBN further clarified that despite the stronger goods surplus, Nigeria recorded higher net outpayments in the services account, which increased to $4.67 billion in Q2 from $3.71 billion in Q1, reflecting higher net debits for transport, travel, insurance, other business services and government services not included elsewhere.
The data also revealed that the primary income account also recorded a larger deficit, with its debit balance rising to $4.20 billion from $3.23 billion in the preceding quarter due to what the CBN linked to higher dividend and interest payments to non-resident investors.
In addition, the report showed that the secondary income account balance increased to $6.30 billion in Q2 2026, from $5.47 billion in Q1, just as personal transfers, including remittances from Nigerians living abroad, rose by 9.81% to $5.82 billion during the quarter.
The increase in remittances also aided the current account increase, helping offset some of the higher outflows recorded in services and primary income.
Available data from the apex bank showed that the nation’s financial account recorded a net lending position of $1.74 billion in Q2 2026, reversing the net borrowing position of $2.03 billion in Q1.
The Portfolio investment liabilities recorded inflows of $7.09 billion, up from $6.03 billion in the preceding quarter and the foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows also increased, reaching $1.15 billion compared with $1.03 billion in Q1.
But then, the CBN reported that Nigerian investments abroad generated outflows, with direct investment assets recording $560 million and portfolio investment assets recording $700 million, just as other investment liabilities attracted inflows of $2.75 billion, while other investment assets recorded outflows of $7.96 billion.
Although the net errors and omissions (NEO) balance narrowed to -$5.82 billion from -$6.62 billion in Q1, the CBN data indicated that despite that, Nigeria recorded a balance of payments surplus of $3.51 billion in the second quarter of this year.
