Nigeria’s foreign reserves reach $40.4bn says CBN

Nigeria’s foreign reserves hit $40.4 billion as of January 5, an increase of roughly $1 billion from December, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said on Monday.

The bank said the rise reflected its “strategy to effectively manage forex demand by various sectors of the economy”, stressing restrictions on access to foreign currencies for importers of certain items.

The central bank said in a statement that its policies “had ensured a decline in Nigeria’s import bills from over $5 billion monthly in 2015 to about $1.5 billion in 2017”.