Nigeria’s external reserves on consistent growth, now $26.1bn

The Nigerian external reserves have grown to $26.094 billion according to the figures released on Thursday by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). This signifying a slow but steady improvement in the country’s current account balance which started looking up in the past two months.

The rice is in connection with the drop in militancy in the Niger Delta and rising oil exports which have impacted positively in the nation’s foreign exchanges earnings.

Going by the CBN data, the current reserves value, mostly from crude oil sale, stood at $2.137 billion or nine per cent, compared with $23.957 billion as of November 2, 2016.

This is said to be as a result of  increase in the level of exports as well as the drop in imports in the country following renewed import-substitution drive by the Federal Government as spare headed  by the CBN and the Federal Ministry of Finance.

It has been reported that the import substitution policies by the CBN and the Federal Government appeared to be yielding results, as a recent country assessment report on Nigeria by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) indicated that a sharp decline in imports had contributed to a modest recovery in Nigeria’s external current account balance in the first half of 2016.

The report explained that Nigeria’s exports declined by 14 per cent in the first half of 2016 while at the same time, imports fell more than proportionately by 25 per cent in the first half of this year, compared to the same period last year.

In a bid to promote domestic production, the federal government last week raised duties on luxury goods such as yachts and sport utility vehicles (SUVs) imported into the country. Also affected were some food items such as rice, salt and sugarcane that have local alternatives.