Nigeria’s foreign reserves have grown to $37.31 billion, residing at its highest peak in 22 months, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said.
According to the statistics obtained from the apex bank yesterday, the reserves hit the highest level since November 4, 2022, when the figure stood at $37.36 billion.
This record seemed to justify the fiscal and monetary decisions the present government has introduced since May last year when it assumed office.
Some of the key sources of the inflows include the Federal Government’s domestic dollar bonds, which attracted inflow, remittance inflows from Nigerians abroad, multilateral loans from international organisations and foreign portfolio investments.
This also serves as a healthy buffer for offsetting foreign-dominated transactions even as the naira struggles passing the N1, 600 mark last week before decelerating to N1, 550 towards the end of last week.
On a year-to-date basis, the country’s reserves surged by 12.99 per cent, or $4.29 billion, from the $33.02 billion recorded at the start of the year on January 2, 2024. The year-on-year growth showed that Nigeria’s foreign reserves grew by 12 per cent, adding $4.03 billion to the $33.28 billion recorded on September 18, 2023. The Federal Government also raised over $900 million from investors through the issuance of $500 million, which was the first series of the $2 billion domestic U.S. dollar bond aimed to stabilise the economy.
Additionally, the CBN disclosed that Nigeria recorded $553 million in remittances in one year, between July 2023 and July 2024.
Other inflows into the country’s economy within the period include $3.3 billion AfreximBank oil facility and $2.25 billion from the World Bank Group.
The apex bank also indicated that Nigeria recorded $8.86 billion in foreign exchange inflow in February 2024, higher than $5.66 billion in the corresponding period of February 2023.
The CBN data also said foreign direct investment inflow rose to $0.06 billion from $0.03bn in the preceding month while portfolio investment inflow increased to $0.80 billion from $0.12 billion from money market instruments and bonds.
