…exits list after nearly two years
Nigeria’s naira closed 2025 outside the list of Africa’s 10 worst performing currencies, ending nearly two years of rankings triggered by sharp devaluations that fuelled volatility and foreign exchange shortages.
Africa’s most populous nation exited the bottom ten list in October 2025 and had not reappeared as of December, supported by improving external reserves, policy reforms, and better liquidity conditions, an analysis using the Forbes currency calculator, shows.
Although the country’s exact ranking was not disclosed, by the end of 2025, the Rwandan franc stood at 1,456 per dollar, ranking 10th, while the naira was at N1,436 on December 31, potentially placing it among Africa’s 15–20 weakest currencies. Data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) show the naira appreciated by 6.5 percent year-on-year, up from N1,535.82 at the same period in 2024.
Forbes further revealed that São Tomé and Príncipe’s dobra was Africa’s weakest currency last year at 22,282 per dollar, followed by Sierra Leone’s leone (20,970), Guinean franc (8,741), Malagasy ariary (4,577), and Ugandan shilling (3,610).
Read also: Naira ends year with over N100 gain as external reserves rise by 11.3 percent
Other weak currencies included the Burundian franc (2,958), Tanzanian shilling (2,465), Congolese franc (2,200), Malawian kwacha (1,736), and Rwandan franc (1,456).
Nigeria’s improvement follows a period of severe currency stress triggered by President Bola Tinubu’s early-term reforms, including the removal of currency controls and steep devaluations in June 2023 and January 2024, which pushed the naira to the top of Africa’s weakest currency rankings in early 2024.
The reforms have reduced volatility and strengthened Nigeria’s external position, reflected in rising foreign-exchange reserves and a sizeable current-account surplus, according to the World Bank’s latest Africa pulse report.
“A more competitive naira is expected to continue supporting export diversification and compressed imports. However, price pressures are expected to remain elevated, necessitating sustained monetary policy efforts to re-anchor inflation expectations,” the report said.
FX market stabilisation eases inflation pressures
CBN data show the average official exchange rate weakened sharply to N1,450/$ in 2024, from N645.10/$ in 2023. In the first eight months of 2025, the naira traded mostly between N1,500 and N1,600 per dollar before firming to N1,480.30/$ on September 26, its strongest level in eight months.
Since then, it has remained below N1,500/$.
Nigeria’s external reserves—critical to managing FX volatility—also rose to $45.48 billion as of December 30, 2025, the highest in six years, up from $40.88 billion a year earlier. In its latest macroeconomic outlook, the apex bank projects reserves will increase further to about $51.04 billion in 2026, supported by improved FX liquidity, higher oil earnings, sovereign bond issuance, and stronger diaspora remittance inflows.
Before exiting the list, the naira had been ranked the ninth weakest currency in Africa as of September, three places lower than the previous month (sixth)
“Exchange-rate stability emerged as the most visible achievement, with the naira largely trading within the N1,440–N1,500/$ band,” said Muda Yusuf, director-general of the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE).
“Periodic marginal appreciation strengthened business confidence, eased imported inflation, and restored predictability to pricing, contracting, and investment planning,” he added.
The improved FX stability coincided with a sharp deceleration in headline inflation, which eased from 24.48 percent in January to 14.45 percent by November. Average inflation also fell to 20.96 percent in 2025, from 33.2 percent in 2024 and 24.66 percent in 2023, reflecting moderating currency pressures, lower petrol costs, and more stable supply chains.
“Several food items and imported consumer goods recorded outright price declines, contributing to improved consumer sentiment and reduced price volatility,” Yusuf said.
Still, the World Bank cautioned that the disinflation path remains vulnerable to exchange-rate pressures, supply shocks, and global market volatility.
Structural developments support naira
The start-up of the Dangote Refinery—the world’s largest single-train refinery with a 650,000-barrel-per-day capacity—has reduced demand for refined-product imports and FX outflows, with refined-product imports falling to 3.1 million tonnes in the first quarter of last year.
Nigeria’s renewed currency-swap agreement with China has further eased dollar demand by allowing trade settlements in yuan and naira. In 2024, Nigeria imported N14.14 trillion ($9.56 billion) worth of goods and services from China and exported more than N3 trillion ($2.03 billion).
The CBN expects Dangote Refinery’s expansion of capacity to 700,000 barrels per day in 2025, with a medium-term target of 1.4 million barrels per day, to further reduce import dependence, support reserve accumulation, and reinforce FX stability.
While the country’s naira exited Africa’s bottom-ten list, the continent’s strongest currencies remained led by the Tunisian dinar (2.90 per dollar), followed by the Libyan dinar (5.41), Moroccan dirham (9.11), Ghanaian cedi (10.93), and Botswanan pula (13.54).
Others included the Seychellois rupee (14.89), Eritrean nakfa (15.00), Swazi lilangeni (16.69), South African rand (16.69), and Namibian dollar (16.70), with the Lesotho loti just outside the top ten at 16.71 per dollar.