Nigeria’s oil sector utilised $2.15bn in foreign exchange in the first half of 2026, despite recording a decline of 18.7 per cent compared with the corresponding period of 2025, as demand for foreign currency rose sharply in June, The PUNCH reports.
Forex allocation refers to the process through which the CBN distributes FX to various sectors of the economy, including individuals, businesses, and government agencies, based on certain criteria and priorities.
An analysis of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Quarterly Statistical Bulletin for the second quarter of 2026, analysed by our correspondent on Sunday, showed that oil-sector FX utilisation stood at $2.148bn between January and June, compared with $2.643bn in the same period of 2025.
The decline represents a reduction of approximately $494.47m in the amount of FX utilised by the sector year-on-year.
However, the figures showed that demand gathered momentum in Q2, with oil-sector FX utilisation rising to $1.249bn between April and June from $899.29m in the first quarter.
The 38.9 per cent quarter-on-quarter increase indicates a significant rebound in the sector’s FX requirements after spending declined during the opening months of the year.
The CBN data, contained in Table D.25 on sectoral utilisation, also showed that June recorded the highest monthly oil-sector FX utilisation in the six-month period at $559.79m.
The June figure represented an increase of $179.38m, or 47.2 per cent, from the $380.41m utilised in May. It was also $67.67m, or 13.8 per cent, higher than the $492.12m recorded in June 2025.
Despite the June increase, cumulative utilisation remained below the previous year’s level, reflecting the substantial reductions recorded in the first three months of 2026.
In January, the oil sector utilised $381.91m, compared with $457.83m in January 2025, representing a decline of $75.92m, or 16.6 per cent.
The amount fell further to $283.32m in February, marginally below the $283.54m recorded in the corresponding month of 2025. The difference of $217,266 represented a decline of approximately 0.08 per cent.
In March, FX utilisation dropped sharply to $234.06m from $517.55m a year earlier. This represented a decrease of $283.49m, or 54.8 per cent, marking the steepest year-on-year decline among the six months.
The sector’s demand subsequently recovered in Q2, beginning with $308.66m in April, compared with $423.12m in April 2025. The figure represented a decline of $114.46m, or 27.1 per cent.
May utilisation stood at $380.41m, against $468.47m in the corresponding month of the previous year, representing a reduction of $88.06m, or 18.8 per cent.
The trend reversed in June when utilisation rose above the corresponding 2025 level, following five consecutive months in which the sector recorded lower year-on-year figures.
A quarterly comparison showed that oil-sector FX utilisation declined by 28.6 per cent in the first quarter, falling from $1.259bn in January to March 2025 to $899.29m in the corresponding period of 2026.
Although the second-quarter figure of $1.249bn was 9.7 per cent lower than the $1.384bn recorded in April to June 2025, the improvement from the first quarter suggests that the sector’s FX requirements strengthened as the year progressed.