External Reserves Gained $5bn In October – CBN

Nigeria’s external reserves rose by $5.05bn in October, the latest data from the Central Bank of Nigeria showed on Wednesday.

The reserves increased from $36.78bn on September 30 to $41.83bn as of October 29.

The Deputy Governor, Financial Systems Stability Directorate, CBN, Aishah Ahmad, at the last Monetary Policy Committee meeting in Abuja, said the external sector trends improved as reflected in the balance of trade position, which narrowed by 52.56 per cent to a deficit of N1.87tn in the second quarter of 2021 from N3.94tn in Q1.

She said this was driven by a 74.72 per cent rise in exports, which outstripped the increase in imports of 1.45 per cent.

She noted that external reserves increased by 7.41 per cent at the end of August 2021 from $33.49bn in July.

According to her, relative stability was maintained at the I&E foreign exchange window following sustained implementation of policies aimed at boosting liquidity and improving supply to meet legitimate demands for eligible transactions.

She said the bank was encouraged to sustain the implementation of measures focused on demand/supply side management and sanitising the foreign exchange market in order to improve forex supply and drive further external sector improvements.

Another member of the MPC, Kingsley Obiora, said the increase in external reserves was “largely driven by the Special Drawing Rights allocation of $3.35bn by the IMF – a development that will further sustain the current exchange rate stability at the Investors and Exporters window”.