Foreign Reserves Drop By $1.26billion In 4 Weeks, Now $40.5bn

Nigeria’s foreign reserves depleted by $1.26bn within the last four weeks according to figures from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

According to the data obtained from the CBN foreign reserves stood at $41.76bn on the 2 of October 2019 but recorded a decrease and stood at $40.5bn as of the end of October 30 2019.

As of October 16, the CBN data shows Nigeria’s foreign reserve stood at $44.03 billion before falling to $40.5bn on October 30.

“Gross external reserves were $40.9bn as at September 25, 2019. This indicated a decrease of 8.6 per cent, compared with the level in the second quarter of 2019. The external reserves position would cover 5.2 months of import of goods and services or 9.2 months of import of goods only, based on the estimated value of import for the second quarter of 2019.

 “A breakdown of the external reserves by ownership showed that the share of federation reserves was $0.27bn (0.7 per cent); Federal Government reserves, $7.0bn (17.1 per cent); and the CBN reserves, $33.62bn (82.2 per cent) of the total,” the data noted.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) had earlier cautioned Nigeria against using its foreign reserves, warning that crude oil price could fall again at any time.