Olayemi Cardoso, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria
(CBN), says the country’s foreign reserves rose to $40.88 billion as of
November 21.
Cardoso spoke on Tuesday at a press conference after the
monetary policy committee’s 298th meeting in Abuja.
He said the external reserves grew from $40.06 billion at
the end of October to $40.88 billion in November.
The amount represents an increase of $82 million or 2.05
percent in 21 days.
“The external reserves rose marginally to 40.88 billion as
of 21 November 2024, from 40.06 billion at the end of October 2024, available
to finance 17 months of imports,” he said.
However, checks on the apex bank’s website showed that
Nigeria’s foreign reserves stood at $40.27 billion on November 22 – less than
what Cardoso presented.
Further speaking at the event, Cardoso said “the process of
getting us where we are in terms of reserves has been a long one”.
“It is a clear indication that the policies we have put in
place are certainly yielding fruits,” he added.
“However, and it’s very important to make a distinction here
and to reiterate the fact that reserves are there for a multiplicity of
different purposes, not least of which is to create buffers in the event of
unanticipated shocks.
“So they are not there to simply whittle away. They are
there to be used to more or less defend yourself where that becomes necessary.
“And when we talk about shocks that are not anticipated, I
think we can see how the global economies are.”
Cardoso also said the bank will continue to intensify
efforts to stabilise the currency and prices.
According to the CBN governor, “the currency has been stable
compared to what it was in June”.
But he said for the value of the country’s currency to be
stable, there needs to be increased exports and diversification of the economy.
Cardoso said diaspora remittance has increased due to
policies that have been put in place.
He commended those in the diaspora for helping the country
accomplish over $600 million in remittances.
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