Nigeria’s external reserves maintained a downward trend as it lost $905.5m in June, figures obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria showed on Thursday.
According to the CBN’s data on the movement of reserves, the reserves fell to $33.32bn as of the end of June 30 from $34.23bn on May 31. The reserves stood at $34.88bn at the end of April 30.
Financial experts have expressed the need for the government to attract more foreign direct investment into the country and stimulate domestic production to attract more foreign exchange and reduce the demand on forex for importation.
At the last Monetary Policy Committee meeting, the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, while speaking on the decline in external reserves, said, “This reflects sales to the foreign exchange market and third-party payments.”
The CBN, in its January economic report, said, “As a consequence of the lower foreign exchange receipts, the official external reserves declined.
“External reserves stood at $35.44bn at the end-January 2021, a decrease of 2.8 per cent and 3.5 per cent from $36.46bn in December 2020 and $36.73bn in January 2020.”
Meanwhile, the naira was bought and sold at the parallel market at N499/$ and N500/$ on Thursday, according to figures obtained from the naijabdcs.com, the CBN’s official website for the Bureau de Change operators.
The CBN recently adopted the NAFEX rate of N410/$ as its official exchange rate.