CBN says $6.3bn portfolio inflows have strengthened foreign-exchange liquidity
The Central Bank of Nigeria says net foreign portfolio inflows reached $6.3bn between January and August 2026, while autonomous sources supplied most of the $10.8bn recorded in July. The bank linked stronger dollar liquidity, higher reserves and a narrower official-parallel market gap to reduced pressure on direct intervention.
Nigeria’s foreign-exchange position has strengthened as portfolio investments, private-sector flows and remittances have increased dollar liquidity, the Central Bank of Nigeria said. Net foreign portfolio investment inflows reached $6.3bn between January and August 2026, according to CBN Deputy Governor Muhammad Sani Abdullahi. He disclosed the figure at the 38th Seminar for Finance Correspondents and Business Editors in Abuja.
Abdullahi said the increase in foreign-exchange supply had contributed to greater market stability and reduced the central bank’s reliance on direct intervention. Autonomous sources accounted for most of the inflows recorded during the period. Of the $10.8bn in total flows recorded in July, $7.3bn, or nearly 68 per cent, came from autonomous sources, Abdullahi said.
These flows have become an increasingly important source of foreign exchange for the economy as the CBN seeks to support liquidity through market-based channels. Diaspora remittances have also contributed to dollar availability. Abdullahi said inflows through international money transfer operators reached about $950m in July, adding another source of formal foreign-exchange liquidity alongside portfolio investment and autonomous flows.
The CBN said gross external reserves stood at $55.6bn as of 11 September 2026. Abdullahi also pointed to an improvement in net reserves, which he said had been below $900m in 2023 after identified short-term obligations were taken into account. The bank said the average gap between official and parallel-market exchange rates had narrowed to below 2.2 per cent, compared with an average of 68.2 per cent between January and May 2023.
It attributed the improved stability partly to tighter monetary policy and better liquidity management. Abdullahi cautioned that the progress did not mean all foreign-exchange pressures facing households and businesses had disappeared. He said maintaining the gains would require policy discipline and efforts to deepen investment and foreign-exchange sources.
“Our task is to make the improvement more durable and to deepen the sources of investment and foreign exchange supply,” he said.
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