Despite the increasing price of crude oil, Nigeria’s external reserves depreciated by $1.37billion or 3.37 per cent in the first six months of 2022 to $39.16billion as of June 30 from $40.52 billion it closed in 2021, data obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) daily reserves’ movement has revealed.
External reserves are assets held on reserve by CBN in foreign currencies and these reserves are used to back liabilities and influence monetary policy.The foreign exchange buffer of the CBN in January was hovering at an average of $40 billion and later slide to $39 billion in three months (February- April) consecutive before reaching $38 billion in May 2022.
The CBN data revealed that it remained flat at $38billion in June and eventually closed at $39.16billion on June 30, 2022.
