Nigeria’s external reserves plummeted to $915 million due to the CBN’s formal flotation of the naira and liberalization of the foreign exchange market.
Data obtained from CBN on Sunday showed that the reserves, which stood at $34.66 billion as of June 14, 2023, when the naira was floated, fell to $33.74 billion as of August 24, 2023.
The naira, which was valued at 471.67/$ at the Investor & Exporter forex window on June 13, a day before the CBN announced the naira float fell to over 700/$ at the I&E window.
Since then, the country’s currency has traded at or above 700 per dollar. On Saturday, the naira was purchased and traded at 900 and 915 in the parallel market.
According to Bureau de Change operators who contacted newsmen, pounds sterling were bought and sold for N1160 and N1180.
The naira began trading at 773.29/$ on Friday and reached a high of 799.9/$ before finishing at 778.42/$.
Speaking at the last Monetary Policy Committee meeting, Mr. Folashodun Shonubi, the acting governor, stated that “accretion to external reserves remains weak while foreign exchange demand pressure persists.”
While emphasising that the apex bank will save the naira from further depreciation, he promised to crack down on unlicensed Bureau de Change operators.
The news comes after the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation announced a $3 billion loan from the Africa Import and Export Bank as a temporary measure to boost the country’s currency supply.
Aminu Gwadabe, President of the Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria, revealed that the CBN would be going tough on illegal operators in their efforts to stabilise the naira.
According to Gwadabe, after “a sensitization engagement between the CBN and a few of our compliance officers across the zones, the apex bank reiterated that by August 31, 2023, any breaches on the allowable margin of -2.5 percent and +2.5 percent on the average weighted rate of I&E closing rate, rendition of returns, and payment of penalties, if any, will lead to revocation of the operating licence of the operator”.
