FX Reserve to increase to $35.01 billion by end of March – CBN official

Muhammad Sani Abdullahi, the Deputy Governor responsible for Economic Policy at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has forecasted that Nigeria’s external reserves will rise from approximately $34.98 billion to surpass $35 billion by the conclusion of March 2024.

Additionally, he mentioned that the country’s foreign exchange (FX) reserves could cover 10 months’ worth of imports for goods alone and about seven months for both goods and services.

The apex bank’s Deputy Governor based his projection on the import statistics of third quarter foreign trade report were Nigeria recorded import amounting to N8.46 trillion from a total external trade of N18.8 trillion.

According to Mr. Sani Abdullahi, the projected increase in the nation’s FX reserve in based on recent reforms in the FX market and improvements in crude oil production.

He added that, “The external reserves stood at US$34.98 billion as of March 14, 2024, from US$33.74 billion in the previous month. The level of reserves could finance 7.0 months of import for goods and services, and 10.0 months of import for goods only based on import statistics for Q3 2023.

“External reserves is projected to increase marginally to US$35,014.28 million at end-March 2024, from US$34,984.00 million as of March 14, 2024.”