Cardoso says rising foreign reserves driven by competitive currency, export growth

Olayemi Cardoso, the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), says the steady rise in the country’s external reserves is being driven by a more competitive currency and increased export inflows backed by higher oil production, stronger non-oil exports, and improved remittances.

Speaking during a press briefing after the CBN monetary policy committee (MPC) meeting in Abuja, Cardoso said Nigeria’s reserve position has strengthened with an import cover he described as healthy and supported by structural reforms in the foreign exchange (FX) market.

“The good thing about all this is that we are building the reserves on a very systemic basis,” he said.

“Of course, because of the reforms that we are undertaking, portfolio investors are finding investments in Nigeria attractive and they are coming to invest.

“Collectively, all those have contributed and, of course, we are operating a more open and transparent system which gives confidence to those who really and truly want to be in a country where they believe in its future.”

Cardoso said daily turnover in the FX market has risen significantly even without CBN participation, adding that the developments in the foreign exchange market in Nigeria today are something that has not happened before.

“It hasn’t happened before. In the sense that you have a market where there are willing buyers, willing sellers, they come in, they buy at will, they sell at will, and you have a process that is open and very transparent,” he said.

“And our electronic foreign exchange matching system (EF-EMS) system is one that is open and very transparent.

“So you can see who is buying, you can see who is selling. It is what gives confidence to markets.

“It is for that reason that, on average, on a daily basis, we have half a billion dollars in turnover, in market activity, with many times this CBN not being a participant in that market.

“For those of you who will remember how markets used to operate in those days, if the CBN does not intervene, nothing happens. That is now a thing of the past.”

Cardoso said gross external reserves increased by 9.19 percent, reaching $46.70 billion on November 14, 2025, from $42.77 billion at the end of September 2025.

The CBN governor also said the FX market has seen major changes in differentials, with the gap in rates dropping from 60 percent to about 2 percent.