If you changed dollars into naira last week and you are doing it again today, you will notice almost nothing has moved.
That is the story of Nigeria’s naira dollar exchange rate right now. On Monday, August 25, 2026, the naira traded at N1,346.98 to the dollar on the official market, according to data from the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market. That is a drop of 49 kobo from the previous session, a change of 0.04 percent.
The pound slipped too, trading at N1,837.54, down 79 kobo. The euro moved the other way, gaining N1.59 to close at N1,571.54. On the parallel market, the dollar held steady at N1,390.
I want you to see the bigger number behind these small daily shifts. Nigeria’s external reserves reached $52.19 billion as of August 12, 2026. The CBN says that is a 17-year high, and it represents growth of 28.39 percent over the same period last year.
Interbank FX turnover told a different story. Trading volume fell 4.4 percent to $152.592 million, and the number of deals dropped to 144 from 294 in the prior session. Fewer trades moved through the market even as prices stayed calm.
AIICO Capital, a Lagos-based investment firm, described the mood in a note to investors this week. “We expect that the current stability experienced at the FX market will remain in the interim as the Central Bank of Nigeria further refines existing policies,” the firm said.
Read that carefully. It is not a forecast of a stronger naira. It is a forecast of a naira that stays where it is.
That distinction matters if you run a business that imports parts, or if you are budgeting for school fees, or if you are simply trying to work out how far your salary stretches this month. A stable exchange rate does not lower prices that already climbed over the past two years. It only stops them from climbing further, for now.
Nigerians do not need reminding of what came before. Between 2023 and 2025, the naira lost more than half its value against the dollar as the CBN unified multiple exchange rate windows and let the currency float more freely. Businesses that import raw materials absorbed repeated cost shocks, and many passed them on as higher prices at the shop and the market.
The CBN has spent much of 2026 trying to rebuild reserves and calm the FX market after those years of volatility. The record reserve figure is the clearest sign that the policy is working, at least by that one measure.
Get instant alerts and updates based on your interests. Be the first to know when big stories happen.
How long that stability holds depends on oil revenue, import demand, and how much of that reserve buildup the CBN is willing to spend defending the rate if pressure returns. None of that is settled yet.
Here is what is confirmed as of this report: the official rate sits at N1,346.98 to the dollar, the parallel market rate is unchanged at N1,390, and reserves stand at a 17-year high. What is unresolved is how long the CBN can keep interbank trading volume from falling further without it showing up in the rate itself. This report will be updated as new CBN data comes in.
I will be watching the next reserve update for the real test of this story, not today’s rate, which barely moved at all.
