Nigeria’s foreign exchange utilisation rose to $18.34 billion in the second quarter of 2026, its highest quarterly level since the third quarter of 2011. The increase was driven by services and financial payments rather than merchandise imports.
The data comes from the Financial Markets Dealers Association Q2 2026 FX Market Update, which draws on figures from the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Total FX utilisation grew by 12.84 per cent from about $16.25 billion in the first quarter of 2026. It was also 52.42 per cent above the $12.03 billion recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2025.
Invisible-related transactions, which cover services and financial payments, took the largest share of FX utilisation in the quarter. Demand in this category hit a record $13.24 billion, or 72.19 per cent of the total, up 93.16 per cent from $6.85 billion a year earlier.
Merchandise imports accounted for $5.10 billion, a 1.49 per cent drop year on year. This highlights the growing contribution of financial and services transactions to overall FX demand.
Financial services utilised $9.64 billion, or 52.58 per cent of total FX demand, up 72.81 per cent from $5.58 billion in the second quarter of 2025.
Business services demand rose by 191.39 per cent to $1.66 billion, while other services climbed 118.66 per cent to $1.12 billion.
Industrial imports fell 22.67 per cent to $1.86 billion, while oil imports declined 9.75 per cent to $1.25 billion.
Demand for manufactured products rose 77.73 per cent to $982.09 million, while food-related utilisation increased 26.20 per cent to $649.99 million.
Financial services alone accounted for almost 1.9 times the foreign exchange utilised for all merchandise imports combined.
FMDA linked the strength in financial-services demand to cross-border investment and payment flows, although the report gave no detailed breakdown of the $9.64 billion.
The figure should therefore not be read solely as confirmed investment repatriation or capital flight. The report also identified $542.56 million in unallocated invisible demand because the June figures did not fully reconcile.
Nigeria’s FX inflows relied more heavily on autonomous sources during the second quarter, while CBN dollar sales dropped sharply.
Autonomous inflows rose to $23.31 billion, their highest level since the first quarter of 2020, and made up 74.15 per cent of total inflows.
This was the highest autonomous inflow share in 13 years, compared with roughly 64 per cent of total inflows recorded throughout 2025.
CBN FX sales fell 66.73 per cent to $418.08 million from $1.26 billion in the first quarter of 2026.
First-half CBN dollar sales totalled $1.67 billion, the lowest for any half-year period since FMDA’s records began in 2008.
Total FX inflows declined 2.96 per cent to $31.43 billion, while CBN-sourced inflows dropped 20.44 per cent to $8.12 billion.
Total FX outflows decreased by 19.22 per cent to $8.93 billion. This lifted net FX flows to $22.50 billion, their highest level since the fourth quarter of 2019.
First-half net FX flows reached $43.84 billion, a 47.24 per cent increase over the corresponding period of 2025.
The figures show that autonomous sources supplied nearly three-quarters of total inflows during the quarter, even as overall inflows fell from the first quarter.
However, net FX flows represent the difference between reported inflows and outflows. They should not be read as an equivalent rise in Nigeria’s external reserves.
The latest figures extend a pattern already visible in Nigeria’s foreign exchange market in 2025, when services and financial transactions took a larger share of utilisation than merchandise imports.
Total FX utilisation rose 91.1 per cent to $50.93 billion in 2025, its highest annual level since 2019.
Invisible transactions accounted for $30.99 billion of FX utilisation in 2025, compared with $19.94 billion allocated to imports.
Total FX inflows reached $109.9 billion in 2025.
Autonomous inflows grew 25.12 per cent to $70.54 billion in 2025, representing 64.21 per cent of total inflows.
The autonomous inflow share later rose to 74.15 per cent in the second quarter of 2026, while financial services made up 52.58 per cent of FX utilisation.
FX utilisation measures foreign exchange used by transaction category, while net flows measure the difference between reported inflows and outflows.
