Nigeria’s external reserves have declined by 0.68 per cent to $36.620bn as of August 12, 2024, from $36.872bn recorded on August 7, 2024, data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) indicated.
The development comes after it increased to US$37.88bn as of July 15, 2024, from US$34.76bn as of June 2024 ending.
The CBN had in July, predicted that Nigeria’s external reserves could reduce slightly in 2024. This was disclosed in the maiden edition of its ‘Macroeconomic Outlook: Price Discovery for Economic Stabilisation’ report.
The apex bank had attributed the projected decline to debt service and other obligations.
The outlook said, “The external reserves, which stood at $33.09bn in 2023 could reduce slightly in 2024. This is on the assumption of continued payments of outstanding foreign exchange forward obligations, matured foreign exchange swaps, and debt service. The expected improvement in crude oil earnings, together with recent reforms in the foreign exchange market and energy sector, however, would cushion the drop in external reserves.”
On July 8, Nigeria’s foreign reserve crossed $35.05bn, the first time in about a year and has remained above that mark since then.
A member of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), Bala Moh’d Bello in his personal statement at the last meeting in July 2024, had emphasised how essential it was to maintain exchange rate stability to ensure stable prices, given the significant impact of exchange rate pass-through on import prices and inflation.
