The naira has held relatively firm against the United States dollar, with Nigerian businesses signalling expectations of modest currency gains in the months ahead, according to the Central Bank of Nigeria's Business Expectations Survey for September 2026.

At the official Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market (NFEM) window, the dollar traded at roughly N1,327.08, with the naira averaging N1,329 per dollar across the month.

In the parallel market, demand for physical cash kept the dollar exchanging between N1,370 and N1,390.

Naira outlook and business confidence

The CBN survey showed that businesses were broadly optimistic about the macroeconomic environment, with the Business Confidence Index coming in at 13.4 points in September.

Respondents said they expected the naira to remain stable and record modest appreciation against the dollar across various review periods.

Businesses linked their positive mood mainly to rising demand, economic diversification, and bet-ter access to finance. Increased demand accounted for 29.3% of the factors driving optimism, while economic diversification contributed 18.9% and improved access to finance added 13.5%.

The CBN noted that the industry sector saw the biggest improvement in business sentiment during the month.

Key challenges weighing on businesses

Despite the upbeat currency outlook, businesses pointed to a range of pressures that could affect their operations and investment decisions.

Multiple and high taxation ranked as the top constraint, scoring 67.1 index points. Insecurity came second at 66.2 points, followed by high interest rates at 64.3 points. An unfavourable political climate recorded 61.8 points, while high bank charges scored 61.5 points.

Competition was flagged at 60.2 points, and both unclear economic laws and an unfavourable economic climate each registered 58.7 points. Financial constraints stood at 57.5 points, while poor infrastructure recorded 55.0 points.

On the regional picture, businesses across most parts of the country shared a positive near-term outlook.

The North-East was the most optimistic region across the forecast periods, while the South-East was the only region that did not share the broadly positive near-term view.

Reserves climb to $54.7bn

Earlier, Legit.ng reported that Nigeria's external reserves reached $54.79 billion as of September 21, 2026, a 30.36% rise compared with $42.03 billion recorded on the same date in 2025.

CBN Governor Olayemi Cardoso said gross reserves stood at $55.25 billion as of September 18, 2026, the highest level in 18 years and enough to cover about 11.3 months of import costs.

Analysts warned the sharp rate cut could weaken the appeal of naira assets and trigger fresh pressure on the foreign exchange market.