Sub-Saharan Africa · GDP rank #29
Nigeria
NG · NGN @ 0.0007290/USD
Nigeria is Africa's largest fintech market and its most turbulent — a freshly floated naira, inflation above 30%, the world's best-documented failed retail CBDC (eNaira, still in live_stalled status), and the continent's deepest private mobile-money economy (OPay, PalmPay, Moniepoint, Kuda) operating alongside the Verve domestic card scheme. NIBSS' NIP rail cleared 11.6bn transactions in 2024, more than any other African instant system; the naira has been the best-performing African currency YTD in 2026 as IMTO settlement reforms pulled informal-market flows formal.
Tab 04
Economics
The macro backdrop that actually bends payment behaviour. Nominal GDP, real growth, CPI, policy rate, and FX volatility set the backdrop; interchange, MDR, FX regime, and capital-control posture set the industry-specific dynamics.
GDP denominated in USD has contracted ~30% since 2022 due to naira depreciation despite real growth; rebasing to 2019 base year pending.
Nominal GDP
Real GDP growth
CPI inflation
Policy rate
Unemployment
30-day FX volatility
Remittance inflows
Remittance outflows
FX posture
How the currency is managed
The FX regime and capital-control posture together determine how much of cross-border flow is priced against the interbank and how much is administratively steered.
- FX regime
- managed float since June 2023 — CBN unified the multiple-window regime into a single NAFEM rate; residual pressure on reserves
- Capital controls
- partial — FX rationing easing post-unification but remains constrained for priority imports
30-day currency volatility
Scale 0-15%. Benchmark 2.5% marks the approximate median across G10 majors.