Nigerian banks are heading for their best quarterly performance in six years as a return to more conventional economic policies and a sharp devaluationof the naira are expected to boost profits in the West African nation. 

Banking stocks are up 34% this quarter and headed for the best quarterly performance since 2017, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The NGX10 index, which tracks the performance of the lenders on the Nigerian Exchange, is up 45% so far this year, extending its gain to 54% in the last 52 weeks. That compares with a 2.3% loss on the MSCI Emerging Markets Europe, Middle East and Africa Index over the same period.