Nigeria’s external reserves grow by $1.96bn in 19 days, on improved crude oil price

Nigeria’s external reserves have grown by 3.71 percent, or $1.96 billion, in the last 19 days.

According to figures obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Sunday, Nigeria’s external reserves climbed from $34.10 billion on September 1 to N35.36 billion on September 19, 2021.

The breakdown shows that in the first eight days ended 9th September, external reserves rose by $599.3 million to $34.69 billion.

It further increased in the next eight days by $666.8 million for a 19 day gain of $1.96billion.

Nigeria will also receive $3.5 billion in Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) approved by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which would help boost the country’s foreign reserves to more than $37 billion.

This increase will would further assist the CBN’s ongoing efforts to protect the Naira against recent depreciation while also satisfying all importer and Nigerians’ demand for FX.

Read also: Nigeria’s external reserves continue free-fall, shed $393.8m

At the last Monetary Policy Committee meeting on Friday, Godwin Emefiele, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, reiterated the bank’s efforts to satisfy all legitimate dollar needs while reading the communiqué of the meeting.

Emefiele also stressed that there will be no going back in dealing with illegal traders maunupulating the forex market, while specifically calling out Olumide Oniwinde, owner of abokiFX.

Meanwhile, the Brent crude oil price (Nigeria’s benchmark oil price) closed last week trading at $75.34 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude ended the week $71.97 per barrel in the United States.

Friday’s closing prices means that Brent oil recorded a weekly gain of 3.3 percent , while US crude gained 3.2 percent.

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