Nigeria’s foreign currency stock, external reserves has moved up above $30 billion as of March 8 to its highest level since October 2015, data on the CBN website has shown.
Nigeria’s foreign currency reserves increased by 15.02 per cent since the start of the year the data showed, but were far off their peak of $64 billion hit in August 2008. The level of reserve was $26.09billion at the beginning of January, meaning that the Central Bank had built it up with additional $4billion. The reserve build up though no official explanation has been given, expert say that improvement in prices of crude oil in the international market, proceeds of loans from the Africa Development bank, savings in the excess crude account has contributed to the build up.The improvement in the nation’s reserve has impacted positively in the value of the naira as the CBN has increased its interventions in the foreign exchange market.
As at 9th of March, Nigeria had $30.038 billion in reserve, compared to $29.668b at the beginning of the month. At the beginning of February, CBN figures showed the level of reserve stood at $28,227,251,639.
