Nigeria’s gross external reserves increased to $50.45 billion as of 16 February 2026, marking the highest level in 13 years.
The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Olayemi Cardoso. disclosed this on Tuesday while briefing journalists at the end of the 304th Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting held in Abuja.
According to him, the increase reflects stronger macroeconomic conditions and improved confidence in the country’s policy direction.
He said: “Gross external reserves rose significantly to 50.45 billion dollars as of February 16, 2026, the highest in 13 years. This provides an import cover of 9.68 months for goods and services.”
He attributed the rise to favourable trade dynamics, a surplus current account position, and growth in non-oil exports adding that market confidence played a central role.
“The gross reserves are the largest that we have had in the last 13 years. We have seen very positive signals with respect to the way the macro is developing, favourable trade developments, the current account is in healthy surplus, and non-oil exports have also gone up.
“Underpinning all these, quite frankly, is market confidence. Without market confidence, no matter what you do, you will find significantly sub-optimised outcomes.
“Over time, we have embarked on a number of international fora where we told our story, made promises, and ensured we stuck to those promises. We have been as open and transparent as possible to engender positive market sentiment, and I believe that has paid off,” he noted.
On the sustainability of the reserves, the CBN boss cautioned that external and domestic risks remain, including global shocks, oil price volatility, and fiscal pressures.
“On how sustainable, there will always be risks to any outlook. We cannot underestimate potential global shocks that could come our way. Nobody has a crystal ball; we can only project into the future. Oil prices and how they play out are factors we can only forecast.
“Importantly, pre-election spending, if not properly contained, could destabilise the stability we have accomplished, as well as fiscal deficits. We are in a new year, and that is being looked at carefully. On our side, we must ensure consistency in policy formulation and avoid policy somersaults,” he said.
The CBN had earlier projected that reserves could rise to about $51.04 billion by the end of 2026.
This is the strongest balance since May 2013, when reserves stood at approximately $48.51 billion.
The reserves ended 2025 at roughly $45.5 billion (up from $40.8 billion at the start of that year) and have maintained a steady upward trajectory throughout early 2026.
