Nigeria’s external reserves have surged past $54 billion to reach an 18-year high while public debt remains sustainable at under 40 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
These milestones were reviewed on Monday in Abuja during a meeting of the Economic Management Team (EMT), the Federal Government’s principal organ for economic coordination, chaired by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) data presented to the team showed that the reserve build-up in early September 2026 surpassed official projections, providing critical backing for the local currency.
The substantial accumulation has driven the naira to its strongest levels in roughly two years, currently trading in the N1,300 range against the US dollar.
Alongside external stability, the EMT noted that the nation’s debt profile continues to display resilience, staying comfortably below the 40 percent debt-to-GDP threshold.
This debt sustainability, coupled with broader fiscal improvements, prompted rating agency Moody’s to elevate Nigeria’s sovereign credit outlook from stable to positive.
The positive macro-fiscal trajectory is complemented by an expanding real economy.
According to National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) figures, real GDP expanded by 4.43 percent year-on-year in the second quarter of 2026, the strongest quarterly performance since late 2024, translating to roughly 17 percent growth for the half-year in dollar terms.
In purchasing-power-parity (PPP) terms, Nigeria’s economic output now exceeds $2.2 trillion, which officials noted reinforces the administration’s trajectory toward achieving a $1 trillion nominal economy by 2030.
International market confidence has mirrored these fundamentals, with global index provider FTSE Russell reclassifying Nigeria from “Unclassified” back to “Frontier Market” status effective September 21, 2026, ending a three-year hiatus.
To lock in these macroeconomic gains and eliminate policy disconnects, the EMT approved the formation of a dedicated inter-agency committee charged with harmonising all macroeconomic assumptions across fiscal and monetary authorities.
The committee will align baseline figures for crude oil benchmarks, production volumes, exchange rates, inflation, and non-oil revenues to eliminate budget underperformance and discrepancy in public reporting.
The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele emphasized that synchronising these targets will anchor long-term fiscal stability, “Today’s decisions tighten the link between the numbers we plan with and the actual outturns. A single, harmonised set of assumptions across the fiscal and monetary authorities means fewer surprises in the budget and more credible planning for investors and all Nigerians.”
Beyond monetary buffers, the team expanded its oversight remit to include monthly strategic sector reviews, prioritized agricultural financing to grow the sector’s share of private-sector credit to 10 percent by 2030, and reviewed preparations for hosting the Creative Africa Nexus (CANEX) in November 2026 and the Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF) in November 2027.
COURTESY: Nigerian News Direct
