The
improvement in the external reserves of Nigeria will be coming as good
news to President Muhammadu Buhari whose leadership capability has come
under questioning in recent times.
File Photo
The country’s external reserves, which have been increasing
significantly in recent weeks, rose to $27.3bn on January 17 from
$26.9bn on January 13, the latest data from the Central Bank of Nigeria
showed on Wednesday.
The reserves had risen to $26.968bn on January 13 from $26.765bn on
January 11, having hit $26.658bn and $26.552bn on January and 10 and
January 11, respectively.
Within the space of 11 days, the reserves rose by $1bn, increasing
from $26.3bn on January 6 to $27.3bn on January 17, the central bank
statistics revealed.
Similarly, the foreign exchange reserves jumped from $25.3bn on
December 22, 2016 to $27.3bn on January 17. Within the space of three
days, the reserves rose by $300m from $26.2bn on January 6 to $26.5bn on
January 9.
Between December 30, 2016 and January 12, 2017, the foreign
exchange reserves rose from $25.8bn to $26.8bn, indicating an accretion
of $1bn in two weeks, the CBN data showed.
Following the gradual increase in crude oil price and production
output, the foreign exchange reserves have been rising steadily since
December. Experts said the slowdown in foreign exchange allocation to
forex markets by the CBN might have contributed to the reserves
accretion.
The foreign exchange reserves had hit $26.0bn on January 3, 2017,
up from $25.8bn on December 30, 2016, the CBN statistics revealed.
The reserves ended last year with $25.84bn on December 30, 2016.
The foreign exchange reserves had risen to over four-month high of
$25.7bn on December 28, up from $25.4bn on December 23.
However, currency and economic experts are not sure if the current
accretion in the external reserves’ is sustainable amid a falling naira
and acute shortage of dollar in the foreign exchange markets and the
economy.
The CBN had spent $4bn from the nation’s external reserves to
defend the local currency in the last 12 months, despite the staggering
fall in the value of the naira against the United States dollar and
other major foreign currencies last year.
The controversial defence of the naira by the CBN has come under
severe criticism from economists, who believe that the forces of demand
and supply should be allowed to determine the exchange rate of the
naira, at least to a considerable level.
The country’s reserves had recorded $23.89bn low on October 19. The reserves dropped by 15.9 per cent between 2015 and 2016.
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