Nigeria’s External Reserves Hit $31.89 Billion – Emefiele

Nigeria’s External Reserves
Hit $31.89 Billion – Emefiele

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)
Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, Wednesday
revealed that the country’s external
reserves had risen to $31.89 billion as at
July 7, 2015.

Emefiele attributed this to strong efforts of
President Muhammadu Buhari to plug all
leakages, as well as the vigilant demand
management of the central bank. He said
the development was very gratifying.

The CBN governor disclosed this in his
opening remarks at the briefing of the
Senate President and the Leadership of the
Senate on the Nigerian economy in Abuja.

According to him, recent measures by the
central bank would help reposition the
economy for the next phase of growth and
development.
Emefiele listed these measures to include
among others, the further tightening of
monetary policy; closure of the official
foreign exchange window; review of
operators’ Net Open Position (NOP);
placement of 72-hour limit on FX
utilisation; and ban on selected items from
access to foreign exchange in either the
interbank or BDC markets.

“These policies have led to a significant
stabilisation in the exchange rate and an
improvement in market sentiments. Having
earlier traded at as high as N206/$1, the
naira-dollar exchange rate has appreciated
and remained around N197/$1 in the
interbank market in the past five months.
“Going forward, the CBN would continue to
be vigilant in the market to ensure that
there is zero tolerance for speculators.

Nigeria’s foreign reserves remain our
common wealth and we must all strive to
work together to protect it and prevent
speculators and rent seekers from
plundering it. We would continue to find
ways to rebuild our external reserves and
where possible, accelerate efforts aimed at
improving aggregate supply potentials of
the economy,” he added.

Source: Thisday

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