Nigeria’s external reserves have risen to $46 billion mark on January 22, the highest value in about eight years, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has reported.
The latest external reserves data released by the apex bank on January 22, reflected that reserves increased reserves have gained about $509 million in just 22 days this year as the reserves closed at about $45.5 billion at the end of 2025 from about $40.8 billion in January last year.
With the positive development, there are strong indications that the apex bank’s medium-term outlook of a $51 billion reserve position by the end of 2026 is feasible.
The latest external reserves figures showed that sustained monetary policy measures of the CBN and fiscal and tax reforms initiatives of the Federal Government were impacting positively on the nation’s merchandize trade in terms of foreign exchange (FX) earnings.
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For instance, for most days of the FX trading in January this year, the official exchange rate of the Naira stood at an average of N1,421 per dollar at the official market compared with the around N1,490 it was closing at the parallel market.
Experts also believe that improving performance of the non-oil sector exports trade and remittances by Nigerians in the Diaspora had been helping the stability of the local currency at the official and parallel FX markets.
For instance, latest data from the CBN showed that as at early this month, Nigerian diaspora monthly remittances increased from about $200 million last year to about $600 million buoyed by the apex bank’s reforms, including the licensing of more International Money Transfer Operators (IMTOs) to boost official FX channels of FX inflows.
