CBN explains how external reserves drop by $1.46bn in 2 months

*Godwin Emefiele, Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, has disclosed at the Monetary Policy Committee meeting March 2023, that the decline in the country’s external reserves resulted from to decline in crude price in the international oil market

Isola Moses | ConsumerConnect

Figures obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) indicate the West African country’s external reserves fell by $1.46billion between January and March, 2023.

ConsumerConnect learnt  the foreign reserves ended February 27 at $36.67billion.

The CBN’s data on movement of external reserves Sunday, April 2 showed that the reserves, which stood at $36.99billion as of the end of January 1 this year dropped to $35.53billion as of March 30.

It is recalled Mr. Godwin Emefiele, Governor of CBN, during the last Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting March, in Abuja, FCT, has attributed the decline in the external reserves to the fall in crude price in the international oil market.

Emefiele also explained “the committee, however, noted the marginal decline in the level of gross external reserves to $36.13bn in February 2023, from $36.4bn in January 2023, a decrease of 0.7 percent, reflecting the downtrend in crude oil prices, as global uncertainties persist.”

The CBN data as well indicated the Nigeria’s external reserves fell by $3.43billion last year, from $40.52billion as of the end of December 31, 2021, to $37.09billion as of the end of December 29, 2022.

The Bankers’ Bank, in 2022, has launched a programme christened, ‘RT200 FX Programme’ to boost Foreign Exchange (Forex) supply through the non-oil sector of the economy in the next three to five years.

While activating the programme, the CBN Governor noted that the RT200 FX Programme is a “set of policies, plans and programmes for non-oil exports that would enable Nigeria to attain $200billion in FX repatriation, exclusively from non-oil exports”, over the next three to five years.

The five key anchors of the programme, Emefiele further stressed, are value-adding exports facility; non-oil commodities expansion facility; non-oil FX rebate scheme; dedicated non-oil export terminal; and biannual non-oil export summit.

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