Despite ongoing Naira-4-Dollar Scheme, external reserves dropped to $34.24bn in May

Despite ongoing Naira-4-Dollar Scheme, external reserves dropped to $34.24bn in May

Nigeria’s external reserves lost $640 million in May, falling to $34.24 billion on May 28 from $34.88 billion as of April 28.

This is despites the ongoing Nair -4-Dollar initiative introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria to attract more inflow of hard currencies into the country through diaspora remittances.

Figures obtained from the Apex bank on Tuesday revealed that the reserves had been fluctuating in recent weeks.

Speaking on the decline at the recent Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting, the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, said, “This reflects sales to the foreign exchange market and third-party payments.”

In March, the reserves lost $178 million after dropping from $34.99 billion as of March 1 to $34.82 billion as of the end of March 31.

In February, the reserves dropped by $1.1 billion, falling from $36.19 billion as of February 1 to $35.09 billion on February 26.

The CBN, in its January economic report, said, “As a consequence of the lower foreign exchange receipts, the official external reserves declined.

“External reserves stood at $35.44 billion at end-January 2021, a decrease of 2.8 per cent and 3.5 per cent from $36.46 billion in December 2020 and $36.73 billion in January 2020.”