Nigeria’s foreign reserves rise by $350 million

Latest data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) indicates that foreign exchange reserves rose by $350 million to $31.43 billion as at August 27.

Though the forex reserves of Africa’s largest economy were down 20.65 percent year-on-year from $39.61 billion in 2014, the reserves rose by 1.12 percent from $31.08 billion July, 2015.

Experts believe the reserves could have a better outlook, but for the CBN’s partial defence of the naira, which involves selling dollar to bureau de change (BDC) operators.

The sale of about $80 million by CBN on a weekly basis to BDC operators is aimed at narrowing the margin between the naira’s official and black market rates.

The reserves increased crossed the $30 billion mark in July, when it saw an increment of 5.6 percent from $29.03 billion in June, to $30.69 billion.

The growth experienced so far has been attributed to efforts of the present government to plug leakage and demand management by the apex bank.

The central bank restricted access to foreign exchange by last month and introduced tight control of the foreign exchange market to curb speculation and conserves forex reserves.