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Nigeria’s forex reserves deplete to $26.37 billion
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- On a year-to-date basis, Nigeria’s forex reserves have fallen by 9 percent from $28.89 billion recorded on January 4.
Nigeria’s foreign exchange reserves have fallen to a 10-year low as the country’s revenues decline owing to lower oil prices and production outage caused by pipeline vandalization by militants in the Niger Delta region.
Forex reserves stood at $26.37 billion as of June 2, 2016, according to the latest figures provided by the Central Bank of Nigeria. The forex reserves balance is at the lowest level since October 2005 when Nigeria recorded $23.92 billion in external reserves.
On a year-to-date basis, Nigeria’s forex reserves have fallen by 9 percent from $28.89 billion recorded on January 4.
In January 2016, the CBN estimated that Nigeria’s forex earnings have declined from around $3.2 billion monthly to about $1 billion monthly. The CBN gave this figure as the reason it imposed the strict capital controls to protect the country’s reserves.
Although the spot price of Bonny Light (one of Nigeria’s main export grades) has since rallied to around $50 per barrel, incessant attacks on pipelines by a group of militants called the Niger Delta Avengers have reduced the country’s production by over 800,000 barrels per day.
More so, the apex bank has ignored calls to devalue the naira, maintaining an official exchange rate of 197 per dollar while the currency trades at around N350 per dollar at the parallel market.
“The authorities have limited weekly FX sales at the CBN’s rate of N197 per US dollar to about $200 million. Yet, they are still struggling to contain the depletion in the face of strong, but easing import demand,” FBN Quest, a Lagos-based investment advisory firm, said in a note to investors.
Last month, the CBN said it plans to adopt a more flexible foreign exchange regime while retaining a window for critical transactions. Analysts have said that they expect the CBN to implement a dual exchange rate system to ease pressure on the country’s forex reserves.
“If the CBN rate is to be limited to critical transaction, then logically pressure on reserves from flows should ease,” the FBN Quest report said. “The success of the second window in unlocking additional forex supplies hinges upon the modalities to be announced. We would expect the CBN to err on the side of conservatism.”
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