Mr. Godwin Emefiele, Governor , Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on wednesday revealed that the country’s external reserves had risen to $31.89 billion as at July 7, 2015.
Emefiele credited this to resilient efforts of President Muhammadu Buhari to plug all leakages, as well as the vigilant demand management of the central bank. He said the development was very gratifying.
The CBN governor made this known in his opening remarks at the briefing of the Senate President and the Leadership of the Senate on the Nigerian economy in Abuja.
According to Emefiele, "The recent measures by the central bank would help reposition the economy for the next phase of growth and development". The further tightening of monetary policy; closure of the official foreign exchange window; review of operators’ Net Open Position (NOP); placement of 72-hour limit on FX utilisation; and ban on selected items from access to foreign exchange in either the interbank or BDC markets.“These policies have led to a significant stabilisation in the exchange rate and an improvement in market sentiments. Having earlier traded at as high as N206/$1, the naira-dollar exchange rate has appreciated and remained around N197/$1 in the interbank market in the past five months.
“Going forward, the CBN would continue to be vigilant in the market to ensure that there is zero tolerance for speculators. Nigeria’s foreign reserves remain our common wealth and we must all strive to work together to protect it and prevent speculators and rent seekers from plundering it. We would continue to find ways to rebuild our external reserves and where possible, accelerate efforts aimed at improving aggregate supply potentials of the economy,” he concluded.
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