Citing what it describes as “a significant improvement in the Nigerian banking sector’s Foreign Currency (FC) liquidity,” Fitch Ratings has said it expects the country’s banks to be able to redeem the $1.7 billion Eurobonds that are maturing this year.

The rating agency, which stated this in a statement released on Friday, also said that it expects strong foreign exchange inflows into Nigeria to continue to support the foreign currency liquidity coverage of the country’s banking sector.

The statement said: “The naira devaluation in 2023– 2024 and reforms to reduce market distortions led to higher foreign-exchange market volumes, improving Nigerian importers’ access to FC and reducing their reliance on the banking sector for FC financing.

“Nigeria’s gross foreign reserves reached USD46.3 billion at end-January 2026 in the wake of the reforms, up from a low of USD32.2 billion in April 2024. This has helped the Central Bank of Nigeria to clear its backlog of overdue verified foreign-exchange forwards and settle many of the foreign-exchange swaps it has with local banks.”

It further stated: “Against this background, Nigerian banks have been able to pay down their correspondent banking lines and rebuild their place- ments at foreign banks. The banking sector has returned to a substantial net foreign asset position, reaching USD11 billion at end-3Q25 from a net foreign liability position of USD2.6 billion at end 2022.

There has also been a corresponding improvement in FC liquidity coverage metrics. “The sector’s improved FC liquidity should provide banks with greater flexibility in addressing upcoming bond maturities, reducing refinancing risk.

“Fitch-rated banks with maturing or callable Eurobond debt have sufficient FC liquid assets to redeem the bonds without the need for refinancing, in our view.”