External Reserves Gained $2.4bn In Sept – CBN

The country’s external reserves rose by $2.4bn in September, figures obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria revealed on Thursday.

According to the CBN, the reserves which stood at $34.02bn as of the end of August rose to $36.41bn as of September 2021.

At the last Monetary Policy Committee meeting, the Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emfiele, said, “The committee noted the significant increase in the external reserves which rose to $35.97bn at end-August 2021 from $33.49bn at end-July 2021, representing an increase of 7.41per cent.

“It also welcomed the further increase to $36.03bn on September 13, 2021.”

According to him, available data and forecasts for key macroeconomic variables for the Nigerian economy suggested further rebound in output growth for the rest of the year.

He said that this would however be hinged on the continued stability in oil price and robust vaccination in Nigeria and across other countries.

The CBN governor said that foreign exchange market stability, further reduction in inflationary pressure in the economy and continued interventions by the monetary and fiscal authorities were very important factors to sustain the recovery momentum.

Consequently, he added, the Nigerian economy was forecast to grow in 2021 by 2.86 per cent (CBN), three per cent (Federal Government) and 2.5 per cent (International Monetary Fund).

A September 21, 2021 report by Comercio Partners on ‘Traders Voice’, observed an improvement in the reserves.

Part of the report said, “The position of our FX reserves improved by $1.94bn from $33.33bn on the 27th of July 2021 to $35.27bn on the 15th of September 2021, as it appears that the CBN has started drawing on the IMF SDR allocation.”