Get Guardian on GoogleNigeria’s business environment recorded its strongest performance in over a year last month, with the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) Business Confidence Monitor (BCM) rising to 117.2 points in February 2026 — up from 105.8 points in January and 111.5 points in the month last year.
The latest reading, released by the NESG on Wednesday, signals a notable recovery in business optimism across the country’s key sectors, as easing cost pressures and improving consumer demand combined to underpin activity in what analysts described as a broadly encouraging month for trade.
“This is the strongest performance in over a year, signalling improved business conditions,” NESG said in its monthly report, noting that all five sectors tracked by the survey moved into expansionary territory simultaneously for the first time in recent months.
The sectoral breakdown paints a picture of broad-based recovery. Non-manufacturing posted the strongest reading among all sectors, climbing to 128.9 points from 115.3 in January, while Manufacturing advanced to 121.1 points from 115.8. Services improved to 109.2 points from 102.1 the previous month.
Perhaps most encouragingly, trade, which had been mired in contractionary territory at 92.7 points in January, rebounded sharply to 108.7 points in February. Agriculture also crossed the 100-point expansion threshold, rising to 104.8 points from 99.5.
The expansion threshold in the BCM is set at 100 points, with readings above that figure indicating growth and readings below signalling contraction.
A key driver of the February improvement was a moderation in cost pressures, which have weighed heavily on Nigerian businesses over the past year.
The cost of doing business sub-index, which carries an inverse interpretation, meaning lower readings indicate higher costs and vice versa, eased to 65.2 points, while input prices moderated to 84.3 points.
