Nigeria’s External Reserves Grow By $1.36bn In 13 days

Posted on May 14, 2020

Despite the foreign exchange crisis caused by low crude oil prices and the global coronavirus lockdown, the latest figures from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) show that the country’s external reserves have further risen to $34.78 billion.

The data from CBN shows that the external reserves increased sharply by $1.36 billion in just 13 days, rising from $33.42 billion as of April 29, 2020, to about $34.78 billion on May 12, 2020.

The Nigerian external reserve had been on a downward slide since last year, after hitting a high of $45.17 billion on June 11, 2019. It should be noted that the reserve lost over $11 billion within a space of 10 months.

The dramatic increase in the external reserves is coming against the backdrop of the recent disbursement of $3.4 billion emergency facility by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to the CBN, about a week ago to help mitigate the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

The CBN has been struggling to meet the demand of importers and manufacturers due to scarcity of dollars.

The manufacturers under the aegis of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) had complained of being hit hard by dollar scarcity, as members had an outstanding $1 billion foreign obligation which was yet to be met.

The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, while promising to devote the foreign exchange available to strategic importation or service obligations that were a priority, also assured foreign investors who wished to repatriate their funds from the country that foreign exchange would be made available to them in an orderly manner.

The low foreign exchange earnings and pressure on the naira made CBN devalue the local currency from N307/$1 to N360/$1 as an official rate and N360/$1 to N380/$1 in the investors and exporters window.

Meanwhile, the naira hit N570/$1 in the 5-year forwards market about 7 days ago.

Culled from Nairametrics

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Latest News

The Executive Chairman of Ojodu LCDA and APC flagbearer for the upcoming Local Government... Continue
The International Council for Beverages Association (ICBA) has expressed deep concern about the World... Continue
Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke of the Federal High Court in Lagos has granted an order... Continue
The Oyo State College of Nursing and Midwifery, Eleyele, Ibadan and the Gender Mobile... Continue
CYRIACUS IZUEKWE  As the Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria (ACPN) prepares for its... Continue
PalmPay, a leading digital banking platform in Africa has announced the launch of strategic... Continue
The Oyo State government has reaffirmed its ban on mobile phones, smart watches, including... Continue
Founder of The Africa Soft Power Group, Dr Nkiru Balonwu, will deliver the keynote... Continue
BEN AHANONU For quite some time, the so-called Orlu Political Consultative Assembly, OPOCA, has... Continue
The Lagos Zonal Directorate 2 of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on... Continue

UBA


Access Bank

Twitter

Sponsored