The Central Bank of Nigeria,
CBN, on Wednesday pegged
the nation’s foreign exchange
reserves at 34.49 billion dollars
(N5.74 trillion) as at January 5.
The CBN posted the foreign
exchange reserves data on its
website.
According to the bank, the
figure represents an increase
of 20 million dollars (N3.36
billion) from the 34.47 billion
dollars (N5.79 trillion)
recorded on December 31,
2014.
The bank said that the 34.49
billion dollars (N5.74 trillion)
represented the ‘gross’ amount
while 33.52 billion dollars
(N5.63 trillion) was ‘liquid’
and 975 million dollars (N163.8
billion) ‘blocked’.
The Federal Government had
through fiscal policies made
attempts since 2013 to shore
up the foreign reserves to 50
billion dollars (N9.05 trillion).
The CBN had in 2014 relied
heavily on external reserves to
support the Naira which came
under pressure following
falling international prices of
crude oil.
Crude oil prices at the
international market have
continued to rally between 55
dollars and 60 dollars per
barrel since December, 2014.
According to the CBN, the
continuous pressure on the
foreign exchange market was
also attributable to the rise in
the internal demand for the
dollar.
The CBN Governor, Godwin
Emefiele, had earlier said that
the country had spent huge
assets from the foreign
reserves in ensuring that the
official exchange rate was
maintained at its previous
value of N155 to a dollar.
In spite of the government’s
efforts to shore up the Naira,
the CBN devalued the Naira to
N168 to a dollar in November,
2014. (NAN)
No comments: