External Reserves Hit $36.39bn

The external reserves stood at $36.39bn as of January 27, the latest figures from the Central Bank of Nigeria revealed.

Figures obtained from the CBN showed that the reserves, which commenced the year at $35.65bn, rose to $36.52bn as of January 25, before experiencing a slight decline.

On the external reserves position, the CBN noted that there had been an increase in the level of external reserves, which stood at $36.23bn as of January 21 compared with $34.94bn at the end of November 2020.

It stated that this reflected improvements in crude oil prices, partial global economic recovery amid optimism over the discovery and distributions of COVID-19 vaccines by most developed economies.

The reserves had experienced declines in recent months due to low oil receipts.

External reserves as of October 30, 2020 fell by 0.3 per cent and 10.2 per cent to $35.58bn, compared with $35.67bn and $39.61bn at end-September 2020 and end-October 2019, respectively.

The decrease was due, mainly, to the CBN’s objective of ensuring predictable macroeconomic environment through interventions in SMIS, BDC and I&E windows to stabilise the naira exchange rate.

The external reserves position in October could cover 7.9 months of import of goods and services and 10.6 months of import of goods only, according to the CBN.

It stated that Nigeria’s reserves per capita was $172.60 compared with $174.44 in September 2020.

A breakdown of the external reserves by ownership showed that, the CBN had the largest share of $30.41bn (85.5 per cent) followed by the Federal Government with $5.10bn (14.3 per cent).