Thursday, March 28, 2024

External reserves hit $30.27b in first half

The first half of the year saw Nigeria’s external reserves peak at $30.27 billion, indicating a rise by 16 per cent from the January figure of $26.27 billion.
Data from the Central Bank of Nigeria, obtained by our correspondent, showed that nearly $6 billion was sold at the foreign exchange market during the period.
CBN Director, Banking Supervision, Ahmed Abdulahi said the nation’s reserves were adequate to sustain its interventions despite a recent decline in oil price.
The price of oil, the major foreign exchange earner of the country, has in recent times fallen, dropping to $47 per barrel.
At the Investors and Exporters window, the naira traded at N366 to the dollar, having firmed to N340 last week.
Ironically, gross official reserves declined by just US$40million in June to US$31.3billion, Proshare Intelligent Investing has said.
According to Proshare, since end-October, there has been an accumulation of US$6.3billion, although the past two months have brought a combined decrease of US$580million.
It noted that the reopening of the Forcados oil export pipeline added about 250,000 b/d to production, and provided accretion to reserves through the NNPC’s stake in the joint ventures, adding that the monetary authorities would be encouraged by the early signals from the Investors’ and exporters’ window (NAFEX).
Proshare said turnover (both sides of trades) since its launch in late April totalled US$3.7billion. Supply is provided by the CBN, non-oil exporters and the offshore portfolio community.
“If, however, the pick-up in momentum does not materialise and reserves were to fall steadily over several months, the CBN would scale back its interventions and rethink its forex policy,” it said.

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