N
igeria’s external reserves have climbed to $45.04 billion, marking one of the strongest levels in the past six years.
This milestone is a significant turnaround for Africa’s largest economy, which has struggled with declining reserves in recent years due to volatile oil prices, capital flight, and heavy intervention spending by the apex bank.
The data show that reserves last reached this figure on July 23, 2019, meaning Nigeria has now equaled and surpassed a threshold absent for over six years.
The climb gained momentum in September 2025 when reserves hit $42.03 billion, rose steadily through November to $44.67 billion, and finally surpassed $45 billion on December 4, 2025.
This growth was driven by sustained foreign exchange inflows, including higher crude oil receipts, Eurobond transactions, multilateral loan disbursements, and possibly remittance surges.
Analysts say the stronger reserves give the CBN greater capacity to defend the naira against renewed pressure, while also sending positive signals to foreign investors who view reserve adequacy as a key measure of external sector health.
This could attract renewed capital inflows into Nigerian equities and fixed-income instruments at a time when many emerging markets face shrinking buffers.
The achievement comes even as the naira closed last week at N1,454 to the dollar amid rising festive-season import demand, highlighting that the reserve buildup reflects genuine improvement in dollar earnings rather than artificial restraint on market interventions.
