Dike Onwuamaeze
The Business Confidence Monitor (BCM) of the Nigerian Economic Society Group has reported expansionary business activities in agriculture, manufacturing, Trade, Services and the non-manufacturing industries in July.
The BCM said that Nigeria’s business environment recorded stronger expansion in July 2026 as its Current Business Performance Index (CBPI) stood at 108.6 points, up from 104.6 points in June 2026.
It said: “In July 2026, Nigeria’s business environment recorded stronger expansion, as the overall CBPI accelerated to 108.6 points from 104.6 points in June 2026. It also represents an uptick from 105.4 points in July 2025. Further breakdown indicates broad-based expansion across sectors in July 2026, as they performed better compared with the previous month. Remarkably, Services moved into the expansion region during the month.”
The report said that key BCM sub-indices, including general business situation, production, demand conditions, operating profit, financial results, supply order, access to credit, cash flow, and employment, remained in the expansion territory.
These sub-indices, except access to credit, registered stronger performance relative to June 2026.
Conversely, the access-to-credit index recorded only a marginal decline. Notably, sub-indices including export and trade stockpiling expanded during the month, whereas investment remained in the contraction territory
Meanwhile, the index readings for the cost of doing business and input costs rose compared with the previous month.
Despite the significant improvement in business activity, many firms grappled with key constraints, including limited financing, inadequate power supply, high property rental costs, insecurity, and infrastructural bottlenecks. These challenges kept operating costs elevated and constrained new investments during the month.
According to the report, “business activity in agriculture sustained expansionary momentum, with the CBPI for the sector jumping to 110.8 points in July 2026 from 103.9 points in the previous month. The index also represents an increase from 107.0 points in July 2025. This robust business growth could be attributed to broadly positive performance across the subsectors during the month.”
The report also showed that business activity in manufacturing remained in the expansion territory in July 2026, with the CBPI for the sector rising to 110.5 points from 106.4 points in the previous month.
“The index reading also marks a significant improvement compared with 98.0 points recorded in July 2025. This reflects strong performance in two of the three largest subsectors, including cement and textile,” the BCM said.
It also said that non-manufacturing industries recorded expansionary business activity in July 2026, with its CBPI accelerating to 116.6 points from 106.8points in June 2026.
The report said the strong performance is as a result of broad-based expansion across the subsectors led by oil and gas services and crude petroleum that registered stronger expansion than in the previous month.
Similarly, business activity in services moved into the expansion territory in July 2026, with the sector’s CBPI rising significantly to 108.3 points from 98.5 in June 2026.
“The recovery in business activity was supported by strong performance across the majority of the subsectors as financial institutions, real estate, and professional, scientific and technical services remained in expansion, performing better than in June 2026.”
The trade sector also witnessed expansionary business activity in July 2026.
Its CBPI rose to 102.8 points in July from 102.0 points in the previous month, albeit dropping from 103.2 points in July 2025.
The report attributed this performance to fragile business growth across the subsectors, including wholesale trade recorded a weaker expansion level than in the previous month, whereas retail trade posted only a marginal expansion.