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Nigeria’s foreign reserves stood at $30.01 billion as at November 27th, according to latest figures published on the website of the Central Bank of Nigeria on Monday.

The reserves fell by over 25 percent from $39.6 billion the country recorded on August 29, 2014 to $29.6 billion on May 28, 2015. After further dropping in June, the reserves rose to $31.3 billion on August 31 this year and has been steadily dropping since then. It reached $30.2 billion on October 30 and has further fallen to the current figure.

Declining oil prices have slashed Nigeria’s revenues from oil by more than 40 percent, forcing the CBN to devalue the naira twice and use funds from the foreign reserves to hold a naira peg of about N198 naira against the dollar.

As lower oil prices continue to exert pressure on the naira, the CBN has had to tighten the foreign exchange rules. The apex bank banned foreign currency deposits in Nigerian banks and imposed a daily dollar spending on Nigerian card users. In June, the CBN banned the sale of foreign exchange to some 41 selected products.

Chibuike Oguh is Financial Nigeria's Frontier Markets Analyst