Legit.ng journalist Zainab Iwayemi has 5-year-experience covering the Economy, Technology, and Capital Market.

A robust recovery in the goods account and a spike in non-oil exports helped Nigeria record a current account surplus of $3.73 billion in the first quarter of 2025.

This is according to the most recent Balance of Payments (BoP) data, issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The surplus was somewhat larger than the $3.69 billion reported in Q1 2024, but a 1.84 percent decrease from the $3.80 billion reported in Q4 2024.

The growth in non-oil exports, which increased by 30.39 percent to $2.66 billion during the period under review, was primarily responsible for this improvement. Additionally, gas exports increased significantly, rising from $2.10 billion to $2.66 billion during the same period. The trade position was further strengthened by an 8.14% decline in non-oil imports, which fell to $6.77 billion.

A significant part of the current account, the goods account, saw a surplus of $4.16 billion in Q1 2025, up from $2.62 billion in the previous quarter.

This was caused by a 9.79% increase in overall exports to $13.91 billion, driven by a surge in shipments of gas and oil, as well as the depreciation of the naira, which made Nigerian non-oil products more competitive in international markets.

Exports of gas and non-oil products each totaled $2.66 billion, while crude oil exports amounted to $8.59 billion. Petroleum products and non-oil imports also decreased, with overall imports falling from $10.05 billion in Q4 2024 to $9.75 billion.

However, other current account components showed signs of deterioration. In Q4 2024, the services account reported a net outflow of $3.69 billion, up from $3.48 billion. This was due to lower financial services receipts and higher net payments for business and travel services.

Similarly, the deficit in the main income account rose by 13.48% to $2.02 billion, primarily due to increased interest payments to foreign investors.

The net inflow into the secondary income account, which includes foreign aid and diaspora remittances, was $5.29 billion, compared to $6.44 billion in the previous quarter. Between Q1 2025 and Q4 2024, Nigerians' overseas personal remittances decreased somewhat from $5.08 billion to $4.93 billion.

The U.S. President recently signed an executive order that may have contributed to the decline in foreign aid, possibly affecting inflows.

In Q1 2025, the financial account balance was $7.58 billion, slightly lower than the $7.82 billion reported in the previous quarter.

This was caused by a dramatic reversal in foreign portfolio investment (FPI) inflows, resulting in a $5.03 billion net divestiture. Additionally, inflows of direct investment decreased marginally from $0.31 billion in Q4 2024 to $0.25 billion.

The CBN statistics also revealed a moderate outflow of Nigerian investments abroad, with portfolio assets showing a $0.48 billion outflow and direct investment assets showing a $0.55 billion reversal.

In Q1 2025, the nation's net errors and omissions stood at $3.85 billion, slightly lower than the $4.02 billion reported in Q4 2024.

Despite the current account surplus, Nigeria's overall balance of payments showed a $2.77 billion deficit in Q1 2025. Meanwhile, the external reserves decreased from $40.19 billion at the end of December 2024 to $37.82 billion at the end of March 2025.

Legit.ng reported that the Central Bank of Nigeria has disclosed that consumer credit in Nigeria dropped to N3.5 trillion in October 2024.

This represented a 17.6% or N750 billion month-on-month (MoM) decline compared to the N4.25 trillion reported in September 2024.

Despite this monthly drop, consumer credit increased year-on-year (YoY) by 6.06%.

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Source: Legit.ng