Nigeria’s foreign reserve rise by $6.4m in 3 weeks

Data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has revealed the nation’s foreign reserves rose by $6.418m from $$43.041bn on December 17, 2018 to $43.047bn as of January 9, 2019.

According to the data, the foreign reserve has been maintaining a steady rise lately after it suffered significant decline in the immediate past.

Records revealed that the reserves, which had suffered significant decline in the past, had been maintaining a steady rise of recent.

It would be recalled that the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, had said that the nation’s economy has become sensitive to flunctuations in the price of crude oil because it was a major source of the country’s foreign exchange.

Read also: 2019 BUDGET: Hope rises as oil prices rebound to $60 benchmark

He noted that the CBN tightened money supply in order to contain inflation while improving yields in local bonds, which attracted the attention of foreign investors.

He said: “Second, we analysed our import bill and encouraged manufacturers to consider local options in sourcing their raw materials, by restricting access to foreign exchange on 41 items. Third, the Investors and Exporters FX window was introduced, which allowed investors and exporters to purchase and sell foreign exchange at the prevailing market rate.

“The impact of these three measures led to an increase in foreign exchange inflows into the country; Transactions in the I&E FX window reached $24 billion ($6 billion net inflows) in 2017 and Nigeria’s foreign exchange reserves rose to over $48 billion at the end of May 2018 from $23 billion in October 2016.”

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now