By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigeria’s external reserves have crossed the $35 billion mark for the first time in a year, data from the Central Bank of Nigeria shows.
The country’s foreign exchange (FX) buffer reached $35.05 billion on July 8, 2024, and the first time such has happened under the administration of President Bola Tinubu.
According to CBN’s data on external reserves, as of May 30 2023, the reserves were $35.09 billion, about 14 days before the introduction of the foreign exchange (FX) unification policy in June 2023.
However, when the CBN announced the FX unification policy in June 2023, the external reserves dropped to $34.66 billion.
From July to December 2023, the reserves fluctuated within the $33 billion range.
This year, the reserves plunged to a low of $32.11 billion on April 19, 2024, according to the data.
The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Yemi Cardoso, attributed the decline in reserves to debt repayments and other standard financial obligations, rather than efforts to defend the Naira when explaining the cause of the decline.
The CBN data revealed a surge in exchange rate in the last few weeks ending the month of June above $34 billion for the first time since April. The reserves have continued to grow in July, reaching the highest reserve in the last year.
Since the lowest level of $32.11 billion under Tinubu in April, the external reserves have surged by $2.94 billion in less than three months, according to the CBN data.
The CBN had said it plans to double the diasporas’ remittance inflow this year through a steady flow of foreign exchange into the country.
Recall Mr Cardoso also announced that the CBN’s reforms attracted a $24 billion inflow into the country in the first quarter of 2024 alone.
“The first quarter of this year has resulted in a total inflow of about $24 billion. Now, this is almost 40 to 50 per cent more than the quarters up to about 2021.
“The tools are having a positive impact. So we believe that continuing on this trajectory, we believe that liquidity will continue to grow,” he noted in an interview last month.