Nigeria’s foreign reserves as of February 23, 2024, rose to $33.52 billion indicating the highest figure in four months amid the turbulent economic and forex crisis.
According to the ‘Movement In Reserves’ data released by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigeria’s foreign reserves have been on a steady increase from February 8th after losing steam on December 20, 2023, when it fell to $33.1billion.
Nigeria’s foreign reserves last recorded such a feat on August 4, 2023, when the reserves stood at $33.46 billion.
This, however, has failed to meet up with figures the former administration handed over to the Tinubu administration.
On taking over government, Tinubu inherited over $35.14 billion from the Buhari administration and this current figure shows the country's foreign reserves have dropped by about $1.6 billion.
On February 8th, Nigeria's reserves stood at $33.1 billion after experiencing a slight drop from $33.2 billion on February 5, 2024. The reserves picked up on February 13th and recorded an increase to $33.2 billion.
It continued this upward growth till February 19th when it recorded $33.4 billion and then continued the upward trajectory till it hit $33.5 billion on February 23, 2024.
The drop in Nigeria's foreign reserves negatively affects the country's ability to fund imports and when this happens, the demand in forex will exceed supply at the official and parallel markets, a development which has led to the forex crisis the country is currently experiencing. This has led to the depreciation of the naira and the increase in the exchange rate.
Some financial stakeholders have said there is a ray of hope with the recent development as the consistent increase in foreign reserves shows the FG's commitment to making headway through the economic crises is progressing.