Nigeria's FX utilisation hits $18.34B in Q2 2026, driven by financial services surge
Nigeria’s foreign exchange utilisation rose to $18.34 billion in Q2 2026—the highest quarterly level since Q3 2011—primarily due to services and financial payments rather than merchandise imports, according to the FMDA Q2 2026 FX Market Update using CBN data. This represents a 12.84% increase from Q1 2026 and 52.42% growth year-on-year. Financial services alone accounted for $9.64 billion (52.58% of total FX demand), up 72.81% from $5.58 billion in Q2 2025, while business services demand jumped 191.39% to $1.66 billion. Conversely, merchandise imports fell slightly to $5.10 billion, down 1.49% year-on-year. On the supply side, autonomous inflows dominated at $23.31 billion (74.15% of total inflows), their highest level since Q1 2020, as CBN dollar sales plummeted 66.73% to $418.08 million. Net FX flows reached $22.50 billion—the highest since Q4 2019—though the report cautions this does not equate to external reserve growth. The data confirms a structural shift: financial and services transactions now drive FX demand, reducing reliance on traditional merchandise trade for forex pressure. With autonomous sources supplying nearly three-quarters of inflows, businesses face FX dynamics increasingly shaped by global investment flows rather than trade volumes. How will you adjust your forex hedging or cross-border payment strategies to navigate this evolving financial-services-driven FX landscape?