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Nigeria’s money supply expands despite CBN’s tightening measures

Despite a record-high Cash Reserve Ratio, Nigeria’s broad money supply surged to N114.22tn in March 2025, driven by foreign asset growth, posing a dilemma for the upcoming MPC meeting.

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Nigeria bank liquidity crisis

Despite a record-high Cash Reserve Ratio, Nigeria’s broad money supply surged to N114.22tn in March 2025, driven by foreign asset growth, posing a dilemma for the upcoming MPC meeting

 

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New data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) reveals that Nigeria’s broad money supply (M3) reached N114.22 trillion in March 2025, a significant 24 percent increase compared to the N92.19 trillion recorded in March 2024.

Also read: CBN reports $6.83bn balance of payments surplus for 2024

This expansion occurred despite the CBN’s aggressive monetary tightening, including raising the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) to an unprecedented 50 percent.

On a month-on-month basis, the broad money supply also saw a 3.2 percent rise from N110.71 trillion in February. The primary driver of this increase was a substantial 38.9 percent surge in net foreign assets, which climbed to N45.17 trillion, indicating stronger capital inflows and potential revaluation gains.

In contrast, net domestic assets experienced an 11.7 percent decline to N69.05 trillion, reflecting tighter liquidity within the domestic financial system.

The data highlights a persistent preference for cash within the Nigerian economy. Currency circulating outside banks rose to N4.6 trillion in March, representing 91.9 percent of the total currency in circulation of N5.00 trillion.

This signifies a 26.7 percent increase compared to the N3.63 trillion held outside banks in March 2024. This reliance on cash is attributed to factors such as rising inflation (24.23 percent in March), infrastructural challenges with digital banking platforms, and the prevalence of the informal sector.

The rise in broad money supply likely suggests that external factors—particularly growth in foreign asset holdings and government credit—have offset the CBN’s tightening measures,” the report states.

The sustained growth in money supply, despite the CBN’s efforts, presents a significant policy dilemma for the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), scheduled to meet on May 19 and 20, 2025.

While the committee previously held the policy rate steady at 27.50 percent, the continued rise in inflation, the dominance of cash transactions, and increasing foreign inflows are likely to exert pressure for more decisive action, potentially including a rate hike.

Notably, Nigeria’s current Monetary Policy Rate of 27.50 percent is among the highest globally, only lower than Argentina, Zimbabwe, Turkey, and Venezuela, as disclosed by MPC member Mustapha Akinkunmi. This high rate underscores Nigeria’s ongoing struggle with inflation and economic instability.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF), following its recent Article IV consultation, advised the CBN to maintain a tight monetary policy stance to ensure a continued decline in inflation.

The IMF commended the MPC’s data-driven approach and suggested that announcing a formal disinflation path could help to stabilize inflation expectations.

The continued expansion of Nigeria’s money supply in the face of tight monetary policy underscores the complex interplay of domestic and external economic factors and sets the stage for a critical upcoming MPC meeting.

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Cement costs more in Nigeria than Kenya, Togo, FCCPC finds

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FCCPC

Cement price manipulation is under investigation by the FCCPC after a three-month study found Nigerian prices were high despite surplus capacity

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Heirs Life Names Pastor Jerry Eze Independent Non-Executive Director

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Heirs

Heirs Life appoints Jerry Eze as an Independent Non-Executive Director to strengthen financial inclusion, consumer trust and insurance adoption (more…)

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Shoreline Group secures US$200 million Afreximbank Facility

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Shoreline Group today announced that African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has approved a US$200 million facility in favour of Shoreline Power Company Limited and co-borrowers including Arkad S.p.A., Shoreline’s majority-owned engineering and construction platform.
Approved in June 2026, the facility was arranged and provided by Afreximbank as sole mandated lead arranger and lender. It provides bonding and working-capital capacity for Arkad’s delivery of the Hassi Bir Rekaiz project and supports Shoreline and its affiliates in developing further pipeline and infrastructure
projects in Nigeria and other permitted jurisdictions.
“This is a defining transaction for Shoreline and Arkad. We built Arkad as an African- sponsored engineering platform capable of competing at the highest level, and it is now delivering against a billion-dollar energy contract. Afreximbank’s US$200 million commitment gives the platform the financial strength to match its engineering capability and pursue further major infrastructure mandates. It demonstrates that African enterprises can assemble the capital, capability and partnerships required to compete for infrastructure at international scale.”
Hassi Bir Rekaiz Phase 2a Arkad holds 44 per cent of the approximately US$1 billion EPCCS-1 contract awarded by Groupement
Hassi Bir Rekaiz (GHBR) to an unincorporated consortium led by Egypt’s Petrojet, which holds 56 percent. EPCCS-1 covers engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning and start-up for the Phase 2a central processing facility and related infrastructure at the Hassi Bir Rekaiz field in Algeria’s Berkine
Basin.
GHBR is the joint operating entity for the licence, held by Sonatrach with 51 per cent and Thailand’s PTTEP with 49 per cent. The project includes a new crude oil processing facility with capacity of 31,500 barrels per day, facilities for associated gas and produced-water treatment, approximately 217 kilometres
of pipelines and the brownfield modifications required to integrate existing Phase 1 infrastructure.
The facilities are designed to support later expansion to 63,000 barrels per day under Phase 2b.
“This financing addresses the instruments that determine whether an EPC contractor can execute at scale: performance guarantees, advance payment guarantees and working capital through the project cycle. Hassi Bir Rekaiz is a demanding scope, combining a new central processing facility, associated treatment systems, pipelines and brownfield integration. With Petrojet, and with the support of Shoreline and Afreximbank, Arkad is focused on disciplined delivery against the project’s safety, quality and schedule requirements.”
The transaction was structured under Afreximbank’s Engineering, Procurement and Construction Initiative, which supports African engineering and construction firms with the financial instruments required to compete for and execute large infrastructure contracts. Afreximbank also supported the Arkad-Petrojet partnership through its EPC twinning work at the Intra-African Trade Fair held in Algiers
in 2025.
According to Afreximbank, the transaction is its first support for a Sub-Saharan African contractor undertaking a major infrastructure project in North Africa. For Shoreline, it demonstrates a practical model for combining African ownership and capital with established international engineering andindustrial capability.

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