Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, disclosed that the country’s external reserves fell by $1.46 billion between January and March 2023. According to data obtained from the CBN, the reserves stood at $36.99 billion at the end of January 2023 and declined to $35.53 billion by March 30, 2023, leaving the total at $36.67 billion as of February 27, 2023.
At the most recent Monetary Policy Committee meeting in Abuja, Governor Emefiele attributed the decline to falling crude‑oil prices. He noted a marginal drop in gross external reserves to $36.13 billion in February 2023, down from $36.4 billion in January—a decrease of 0.7 percent—reflecting the downtrend in oil prices amid persistent global uncertainties.
The CBN’s data also show that Nigeria’s external reserves fell by $3.43 billion in 2022, decreasing from $40.52 billion at the end of 2021 to $37.09 billion at the end of December 2022.
Earlier in 2022, the CBN launched the “RT200 FX Programme” to boost foreign‑exchange supply through the non‑oil sector over the next three to five years. Emefiele explained that the programme aims to achieve $200 billion in FX repatriation exclusively from non‑oil exports. Its five key pillars are: a value‑adding exports facility, a non‑oil commodities expansion facility, a non‑oil FX rebate scheme, a dedicated non‑oil export terminal, and a biannual non‑oil export summit.
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