Nigeria’s External Reserves Drop By $50.84m Within Days
Nigeria recorded a $50.84 million drop in its external reserves within days, between October 2 and October 12, 2020. The countries reserve fell from $35.75 billion to $35.69 billion, according to figures from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
According to the CBN, the reserves which had been unstable, rising and falling in recent weeks, was $35.67 billion as of September 1 and by September 17, rose to $35.81 billion.
It had similarly risen by $65 million from $35.59 billion as of August 20 to $35.66 billion as of August 27. This was after losing $278.91 million from $35.87 billion on July 29 to $35.59 billion on August 19, before returning to a growth path.
In its report on ‘Monetary, credit, foreign trade and exchange policy guidelines for fiscal years 2020/2021,’ the CBN stated that external reserves were expected to be between $29.9 billion and $34.3 billion by the end of year 2020, based on current declining oil price between $20 and $40.
“Sequel to the COVID-19 pandemic, the viability of the external sector in 2020 is expected to deteriorate, given the present worsening current account balance and depletion of external reserves driven, largely, by decelerating export receipts, particularly oil,” the CBN said in the report.
It added that “the degree of external reserves accumulation is expected to decelerate, as outflows are expected to outweigh inflows. As a result, external reserves are expected to lie between $29.9 billion and $34.3bn at end-December,” the report stated.
