Nigeria’s foreign currency echange utilisation rose to $18.34 billion in the second one quarter of 2026, its very best quarterly degree since Q3 2011, pushed by way of amenities and fiscal bills fairly than products imports.
That is consistent with the Financial Markets Dealers Association (FMDA) Q2 2026 FX Market Update, which pulls on knowledge from the Central Financial institution of Nigeria (CBN).
General FX utilisation higher 12.84% from roughly $16.25 billion in Q1 2026 and 52.42% from $12.03 billion within the corresponding quarter of 2025.
Monetary Products and services Dominate FX Call for:
Invisible-related transactions, overlaying amenities and fiscal bills, accounted for the biggest proportion of FX utilisation all over the quarter. Call for on this class reached a report $13.24 billion, representing 72.19% of the full and an building up of 93.16% from $6.85 billion a 12 months previous.
Products imports accounted for $5.10 billion, down 1.49% 12 months on 12 months, highlighting the rising contribution of monetary and amenities transactions to total FX call for.
- Monetary amenities utilised $9.64 billion, or 52.58% of overall FX call for, up 72.81% from $5.58 billion in Q2 2025.
- Industry amenities call for higher 191.39% to $1.66 billion, whilst different amenities rose 118.66% to $1.12 billion.
- Commercial imports declined 22.67% to $1.86 billion, whilst oil imports fell 9.75% to $1.25 billion.
- Manufactured merchandise call for higher 77.73% to $982.09 million, whilst food-related utilisation rose 26.20% to $649.99 million.
- Monetary amenities by myself accounted for just about 1.9 instances the foreign currency echange utilised for all products imports mixed.
FMDA related the power in financial-services call for to cross-border funding and fee flows, even though the document didn’t supply an in depth breakdown of the $9.64 billion.
The determine will have to due to this fact no longer be interpreted only as showed funding repatriation or capital flight, whilst the document additionally recognized $542.56 million in unallocated invisible call for since the June figures didn’t totally reconcile.
Self sufficient inflows dominate FX provide:
Nigeria’s foreign currency echange inflows was extra reliant on self sufficient resources all over the second one quarter, whilst CBN buck gross sales declined sharply. Self sufficient inflows higher to $23.31 billion, their very best degree since Q1 2020, and accounted for 74.15% of overall inflows.
- This represented the very best self sufficient influx proportion in 13 years, when compared with roughly 64% of overall inflows recorded all through 2025.
- CBN FX gross sales fell 66.73% to $418.08 million from $1.26 billion in Q1 2026.
- First-half CBN buck gross sales totalled $1.67 billion, the bottom for any half-year length since FMDA’s information started in 2008.
- General FX inflows declined 2.96% to $31.43 billion, whilst CBN-sourced inflows fell 20.44% to $8.12 billion.
- General FX outflows diminished 19.22% to $8.93 billion, lifting internet FX flows to $22.50 billion, their very best degree since This fall 2019.
- First-half internet FX flows reached $43.84 billion, representing a 47.24% building up from the corresponding length of 2025.
- The figures point out that self sufficient resources provided just about three-quarters of overall inflows all over the quarter, whilst total inflows declined from Q1.
Then again, internet FX flows constitute the adaptation between reported inflows and outflows and will have to no longer be interpreted as an similar building up in Nigeria’s exterior reserves.
Monetary bills reshape FX call for:
The newest figures prolong a trend already obvious in Nigeria’s foreign currency echange marketplace all over 2025, when amenities and fiscal transactions accounted for a bigger proportion of utilisation than products imports.
- Nairametrics prior to now reported that overall FX utilisation increased 91.1% to $50.93 billion in 2025, its very best annual degree since 2019.
- Invisible transactions accounted for $30.99 billion of FX utilisation in 2025, when compared with $19.94 billion allotted to imports.
- General FX inflows reached $109.9 billion in 2025, consistent with figures prior to now reported by way of Nairametrics.
- Self sufficient inflows higher 25.12% to $70.54 billion in 2025, representing 64.21% of overall inflows.
- The self sufficient influx proportion due to this fact higher to 74.15% in Q2 2026, whilst economic amenities accounted for 52.58% of FX utilisation.
FX utilisation measures foreign currency echange utilized by the transaction class, whilst internet flows measure the adaptation between reported inflows and outflows.