Nigeria’s broad money supply rose to a record N138.78 trillion in July, even as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) maintained a tight monetary policy stance.

Credit to the private sector also climbed to N83.43 trillion, pointing to continued expansion in liquidity and credit.

The latest monetary statistics released by the CBN showed that broad money, which captures currency and deposits across the financial system, increased by N5.52 trillion, or 4.14 per cent, from N133.25 trillion in June.

On a year-on-year basis, aggregate money balances rose by 16 per cent from N119.89 trillion in July 2025.

The development underscores the continued expansion of money within the economy despite efforts by the apex bank to contain liquidity pressures and keep monetary conditions restrictive.

The growth also came as private-sector credit continued to edge upwards, although the pace of lending slowed considerably in July.

Broad money supply, otherwise known as M3, had risen from N123.95 trillion in January to N123.12 trillion in February, N124.99 trillion in April, N129.21 trillion in May and N133.25 trillion in June before reaching N138.78 trillion in July.

The July increase reflects an improvement in net foreign assets, which rose to N37.71 trillion from N26.53 trillion in June. This represents an increase of N11.18 trillion or 42.15 per cent in a single month.

The stronger flow from net foreign assets came against a decline in domestic assets. Net domestic assets fell to N101.07 trillion in July from N106.73 trillion in June, a reduction of N5.66 trillion, or 5.3 per cent.

The movement suggests that the increase in overall money supply during the month was not primarily the result of a fresh surge in domestic credit creation, but was accompanied by a stronger external asset position of the banking system.

Money supply measured by M2 also increased during the month, rising marginally to N138.77 trillion from N133.24 trillion in June, broadly tracking the expansion recorded in M3.

Meanwhile, credit extended to the private sector continued to grow, increasing by N2.84 trillion between April and July, from N80.59 trillion to N83.43 trillion.

The CBN data showed that private-sector credit rose from N80.59 trillion in April to N81.04 trillion in May and N83.26 trillion in June before reaching N83.43 trillion in July.

Over the three months, the increase amounted to 3.52 per cent.

Compared with a year earlier, private-sector credit was up by N6.7 trillion, representing an 8.74 per cent increase from N76.72 trillion recorded in July 2025.

The figures suggest that businesses and other private-sector borrowers continued to gain access to additional bank credit, although the expansion was uneven over the period.

The strongest monthly increase came between May and June, when private-sector credit expanded by about N2.22 trillion.

By July, however, the pace had slowed sharply, with lending rising by only N171.8 billion, or 0.21 per cent, from the June level.

The slowdown in July came alongside a contraction in overall net domestic credit, which declined to N117.35 trillion from N123.29 trillion in June, representing a fall of about N5.94 trillion, or 4.82 per cent.

Government credit also fell during the month, dropping from N40.03 trillion in June to N33.92 trillion in July.

The simultaneous rise in private-sector credit and decline in government credit suggests a shift in the composition of domestic lending during the period, even as the broader monetary aggregates continued to expand.

For businesses, the increase in private-sector credit offers some evidence of continued financing activity within the economy.

However, the modest 0.21 per cent monthly increase in July indicates that the improvement in access to credit was losing momentum after the stronger expansion recorded in June.

The absence of sector-by-sector data for the months covered also makes it difficult to determine from the latest CBN figures which areas of the private economy accounted for the increase in lending.

The CBN database does not provide a March 2026 figure for private-sector credit, making April the earliest available reference point for measuring the three-month increase to July.