Figures obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria have shown that the country’s external reserves rose by $243.83m in 19 days.
The CBN revealed in its data on movement in reserves that between April 1, 2022, and April 19, 2022, the value rose from $39.54bn to $39.78bn.
The external reserves fell by $313m in March, after starting the month at $39.86bn, before falling to $39.55bn on March 30.
The Governor of CBN, Godwin Emefiele, said at the last Monetary Policy Committee meeting that “The moderate accretion to reserves reflects the duality of Nigeria’s position as an oil exporter and importer of refined petroleum products.”
A member of the Monetary Policy Committee, Prof. Mike Obadan, said for a long time, the oil sector had contributed over 90 percent of the nation’s foreign exchange earnings and external reserves accretion.
Obadan said, “But for some time now, this has not been so due to two factors: a huge volume of crude oil theft which has prevented the country from meeting even the OPEC-approved production quota, and the inability of the NNPC, for many months, to make any remittance from direct oil export sales into the Federation Account and external reserves account.
“These are alarming developments which have adversely impacted government’s finances, external reserves accretion, and exchange rate stability.
“The inhibiting factors are what the government can check in the short-term.”
