Nigeria’s External Reserves Reverse Earlier Gains

The external reserves fell from $49.18 billion on April 1 to $48.45 billion as of April 23, representing an average weekly decline of about $233 million.

The recent decline represents a reversal of that earlier upward trend. Movements are typically driven by a mix of oil revenue changes, FX interventions, and external obligations.

According to data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the account lost about $731 million within the first three weeks of April 2026 alone.

This is as the CBN Governor, Olayemi Cardoso, had said that the recent developments should not be a cause for concern, maintaining an optimistic outlook for the country’s external reserves.

As part of its broader macroeconomic stabilisation and confidence-restoration agenda, the apex bank had previously projected that reserves could reach $51 billion by the end of 2026.

The $51 billion projection forms part of a medium-term strategy to strengthen balance-of-payments resilience.

Further analysis of the data revealed that the sharpest decline occurred in the early part of April, before moderating in the latter half of the month.

It dropped from $49.18 billion to $48.81 billion between April 1 and April 10, reflecting stronger outflows.

Suggesting a slower pace of decline between April 13 and April 17, reserves eased further from $48.72 billion to $48.62 billion.

Then from April 20 to April 23, it slipped marginally from $48.54 billion to $48.45 billion, indicating relative moderation in outflows.

Reinforcing concerns over sustained external liquidity management, the April decline followed reserve pressure recorded in March.

Reserves had declined from above $50.08 billion on March 12 to $49.61 billion by March 23.

However, despite the recent decline, reserve levels remain significantly above those of the same period in 2025, when they stood at around $37.83 billion.

Signalling improved inflows at the time, in January 2026, reserves rose by about $509 million within the first 22 days.

Recall that in October 2018, reserves dropped by $1.1 billion within two weeks, highlighting a pattern of short-term fluctuations.