This is indeed good news for Nigerian economy as the latest Central Bank OF Nigeria (CBN’s) 2025 Statistical Bulletin revealed that the country’s foreign exchange supply rose by 20.5 per cent to $8.94bn in 2025 from $7.43 billion in 2024, reports thegazellenews.com
According to the apex bank, the increase means Nigeria supplied about $1.51 billion more in foreign exchange in 2025 than it did the previous year.
The bank added that monthly data showed that FX supply was low at the start of the year before rising sharply in March and April, just as it also added that supply stood at $590.64 million in January and $607.63 million in February. It then increased to $1.04 billion in March and peaked at $1.65 billion in April.
Supply fell to $838.93 million in May and $676.31 million in June before rising to $759.02 million in July.
It stood at $677.84 million in August and fell to $399.80 million in September.
October recorded the lowest supply of the year at $150.10 million. Supply later recovered to $638.38 million in November and $910.73 million in December.
The CBN also reported that total foreign exchange inflows into Nigeria increased to $109.86 billion in 2025 from $96.53 billion in 2024.
This represents a 13.81 per cent increase.
However, FX outflows also increased during the year, rising by 27.83 per cent to $49.05 billion from $38.37 billion.
Nigeria therefore recorded a net FX inflow of $60.81billion in 2025, compared with $58.16 billion in 2024.
It must be noted that the CBN’s $8.94 billion FX supply figure is different from the broader $109.86 billion inflow figure because the two datasets measure different aspects of foreign exchange activity.
The CBN data also do not provide a detailed breakdown of the sources of the $8.94 billion supplied during the year.
Nigeria’s foreign exchange market remained volatile in 2026 despite the improvement in external liquidity.
Nigerian manufacturers faced a 53 per cent increase in the average cost of bank credit between 2020 and 2025, underscoring the growing financial pressure on businesses seeking funds for production and expansion.
Data from the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria showed that manufacturers paid an average interest rate of 32.2 per cent on borrowed funds in 2025, compared with 21 per cent in 2020.
The difference represents an 11.2 percentage-point increase in five years, despite a moderation in borrowing costs last year.
Manufacturers’ average lending rate stood at 32.5 per cent in the first half of 2025 before declining to 31.8 per cent in the second half, bringing the full-year average to 32.2 per cent.
The 2025 figure was 3.4 percentage points lower than the 35.6 per cent average recorded in 2024, suggesting some easing in financing conditions. However, borrowing costs remained substantially above the level prevailing five years earlier.
The figures highlight the longer-term escalation in the cost of financing production in Nigeria, with the improvement recorded in 2025 doing little to reverse the increase accumulated over the preceding years.
“A borrowing rate above 30 percent can also alter the economics of new investment. Businesses considering factory expansion, additional production lines or equipment upgrades must factor the financing cost into projected returns, potentially affecting the timing and scale of such investments,” said a financial analyst and emerging markets expert, Ike Ibeabuchi.
The cost of credit is particularly important for manufacturers because bank financing is often used not only for long-term investment but also for working capital.
Manufacturers require funds to purchase raw materials, maintain inventories, pay workers and suppliers, and bridge the gap between production and the collection of sales proceeds.
As a result, high interest rates can increase the cost of maintaining day-to-day operations even when companies are not borrowing specifically to finance new projects.
