By Ashemiriogwa Emmanuel
For the second week, the foreign exchange (FX) reserves of Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, shrank last week and this time, it was by $192.1 million or 0.5 per cent.
A week earlier, the external reserves of the country declined for the first time in eight weeks, precisely since August 2021 and last week, this decrease was sustained.
Data harvested by Business Post from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) showed that the nation’s Dollar savings account plunged to $41.5 billion on Thursday, November 11 from $41.7 billion published a week earlier.
On Thursday, November 4, the FX reserves left in the country’s coffers stood at $41,726,778,269, after which it went down by $24.3 million to $41,702,436,750 the following day.
On the first trading day of last week, it further plummeted to $41,598,746,121, significantly losing about $103.6 million before moving down to $41,579,301,125 on Tuesday.
The losing streak persisted into the midweek as it decreased to $41,557,045,589, after which it eventually settled at $41,534,671,963 on Thursday, November 11.
Despite the recent performance of crude oil prices at the international market, which is a significant influence, the sustained weekly depreciation might mean subtle trouble lurking around the apex bank’s capacity to control the stability of Naira in the official exchange market.
Meanwhile, despite the latest headwinds, the CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emiefele, has expressed confidence over the continuous recovery of the economy.
Speaking earlier last week at the France-Nigeria Security and Economic Summit held in Paris, Mr Emiefele said the country’s external reserve would hit $42 billion mid-next year.
“Nigeria’s external reserve is expected to surpass $42 billion by mid-2022. This is due to the sustained increase in crude oil price, the impact of Eurobond issuance, and the stable exchange rate condition,” he stated.
The CBN boss also acknowledged that the economy had not fully emerged from the COVID-19 strain and other structural challenges but noted that the country had seen the worst with a brighter future ahead.
