Olayemi Cardoso, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, says the country’s net foreign exchange reserves have climbed from roughly $3 billion when the current reforms began to about $40 billion now. The jump points to stronger external liquidity and fresh confidence among investors.
He laid out the numbers at the BusinessDay CEO Forum in Lagos on Thursday. That rise in net reserves, he said, shows real progress toward steadying the foreign exchange market.
Cardoso added that gross external reserves stood at roughly $52 billion as of Wednesday.
“When we started, the net exchange reserves figure was in the region of about $3 billion-plus. And if you remember, that was a figure that was published at the time by J.P. Morgan and created a lot of panic in the system,” Cardoso said.
The pickup in net reserves shows what the reforms have done to rebuild trust in the economy and firm up Nigeria’s external accounts. He told the business leaders in the room to seize the better macroeconomic conditions and prepare for the next stretch of expansion.
Stability, he said, is not the finish line. It is the foundation needed to draw investment, fuel growth, and spread prosperity.
Cardoso spoke while Nigeria keeps pushing to rebuild its external buffers and ease liquidity strains in the foreign exchange market. The changes target distortions that had built up over years.
He sounded hopeful the gains so far will persuade companies and investors to commit more capital here.
“So, in a nutshell, I do believe that where we are now, we’ve achieved that hard-earned stability, and with stability comes potential for investment, and with investment comes growth, and all our local CEOs should be part and parcel of that train that is moving,” Cardoso said.
