The Nigerian currency market in 2025 has been shaped by policies and choices that affect liquidity, pricing, and settlement windows for corporates. Over the past months, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and other policymakers have introduced reforms and interventions designed to stabilise the naira, tighten governance of FX markets, and improve predictability for businesses that move money across borders. 

Below, we break down the policies and give a concise action plan your finance team can implement this quarter.

The Big Picture Policy Moves in 2025

A handful of coordinated policy decisions are driving market behaviour:

1. CBN’s FX governance and code. In early 2025, the CBN formalised a Nigerian Foreign Exchange (FX) Code, a governance framework for authorised dealers that emphasises ethics, confirmation, settlement discipline, and risk controls. This is meant to bring greater transparency and reduce frictions in interbank FX dealings.
   
2. Active FX market interventions. The central bank has intervened in FX markets to smooth extreme volatility while keeping a flexible exchange rate regime. These targeted interventions have helped reduce disorderly price swings that characterised earlier periods.
   
3. Monetary policy tightening and stability focus. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) retained a high policy rate (MPR at 27.5% in July 2025) to anchor inflation expectations, which indirectly supports currency stability by limiting excess domestic liquidity.
   
4. External financing and fiscal moves. The government’s external borrowing and fiscal choices (including approvals for targeted foreign loans) provide liquidity backstops for reserves and infrastructure finance, elements that affect FX confidence.

What Each Policy Means for You

• FX Code: Expect stricter counterparty checks, consistent confirmation practices, and shorter settlement disputes; choose partners who comply with the code.
  
• CBN interventions: Price shocks may be smoothed, but the central bank’s ability to defend the naira depends on reserve buffers; volatility can reappear if reserves weaken.
  
• High MPR: Yields on local short-term instruments remain attractive; consider cash management that balances FX needs with local yield capture.

2025 FX Stability – What’s Next?

Policy actions in 2025 have created a window of relative calm for the naira, but calm isn’t permanence. The near-term stability is an opportunity to convert predictability into stronger processes, measurable controls, and cheaper execution. 

Bluebulb can help you move from plan to execution with same-day USD/GBP settlements to the US/UK, while also offering T+1 global payouts. Contact us today to get started.