Global credit ratings agency Moody’s has revised its outlook for Nigeria upwards to “positive” from stable in response to the country’s improved external position, especially its foreign exchange reserves.
The reserves have recorded robust growth lately from buffers that are making the economy increasingly able to handle shocks, Moody’s noted.
In a rating action published on Friday, the agency also alluded to Nigeria’s vibrant economic growth, backed by relative stability across macroeconomic indicators, among its key considerations for the upgrade.
Optimism is building around Nigeria’s external position, with current account surplus much stronger and FX reserves, which sharply fell to $32.1 billion in April 2014 in the heat of President Bola Tinubu’s sweeping currency reforms, now at $53.3 billion. That is the peak in at least twenty years.
Increased oil production levels are matching higher oil prices to yield mega gains for Africa’s largest crude producer in the face of a yawning supply gap that has opened up across the world, following the US-Israel war against Iran.
