Nigeria’s foreign reserves drops to $24.59bn

Nigeria’s foreign exchange reserves has dipped further.

As at September 28, the reserves plunged by 3.37 per cent, according to latest Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, report.

Now $25.45bn, the amount declined 19 per cent from exactly a year ago.

The country’s external reserves stood at $24.8bn in September 21 this year.

The CBN has been selling the dollar to support the currency, but the naira hit a fresh all-time low of 490 per dollar on the black market on Friday.

The foreign exchange reserves fell by $600m in two weeks before shedding $1bn in four weeks, the CBN statistics showed then.

Specifically, the reserves fell from $25.8bn on August 16 to $24.8bn on September 16. It decreased by $600m from $25.4bn recorded on August 31 to $24.8bn on September 16.

The spate of decline in the external reserves follows the CBN’s almost daily interventions at the interbank/official foreign exchange market in recent weeks, as chronic dollar shortage continues to weigh on the economy.

In its efforts to defend the naira and prevent it from falling further at the official interbank market, the central bank has been selling dollars there more frequently.

The naira had fallen to an all-time low of 365.25 to the dollar at the interbank market on August 18 before making a gradual recovery.

At the interbank segment of the market, the naira hovered around N310.

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