Posted by Chinenye on Wed 19th Aug, 2026 - tori.ng
Nigeria’s foreign reserves have climbed above $52.5 billion, reaching their strongest level in nearly two decades as the naira also gains ground.
(The Acting Director, Corporate Communications and Investor Relations Department at the CBN, Hakama Sidi-Ali. Photo by Punch News)
Nigeria's foreign reserves have reached their highest level in 17 years, climbing above 52.5 billion dollars as of mid-July 2026.
The achievement came as the naira currency grew stronger, with the gap between official and black market exchange rates shrinking to less than 2 percent.
Hakama Sidi-Ali, who works for the Central Bank in its communications department, announced the milestone while speaking at a fair organised by the bank in Nasarawa State.
She said the strong reserves reflected steady flows of foreign money and growing confidence from investors putting money into various Nigerian assets.
Sidi-Ali explained that Central Bank Governor Olayemi Cardoso has spent the past 34 months making significant changes to strengthen Nigeria's economy.
These reforms aimed to create growth, create jobs and reduce poverty.
Among the changes are unifying the foreign exchange market with better openness, strengthening banks through a process called recapitalisation, creating a system for Nigerians living abroad to access banking services, launching new systems for trading foreign currency and introducing a Nigeria Payments System vision for 2028.
The bank also put in place new rules about how public sector money is held to help manage inflation better.
The reforms are already showing results. Inflation fell from just over 15 percent in June to about 15.4 percent in July.
Core inflation and food inflation also came down during the same period.
Njideka Nwabukwu, the Central Bank's manager in the state, said the fair's theme about using digital payment systems to bring more Nigerians into formal banking and boost economic growth reflected the bank's focus on innovation and technology.
She said the bank has expanded agent banking and payment point networks across the country and promoted mobile money, digital payment codes and internet banking.
These steps have helped millions of Nigerians access financial services more easily.
Participants at the fair, including young people and traders, pledged to use digital banking and other modern payment methods to reduce the need to visit banks in person and make money transfers faster and easier.