Nigeria’s Foreign Reserves Dip by $251million in February

Nigeria’s external reserves has depreciated by $251 million, compared with the $28.091 billion it was at the beginning of this month.

However, in terms of its year-to-date performance, the foreign exchange reserves, which are derived mainly from the proceeds of crude oil sales has decreased by $1.138 billion, compared with its value of $28.978 billion as at January 4, 2016.

There are projections that the reserves may depreciate further considering international obligations and bilateral agreements that had been entered by the country whose payments are from the reserves as well as the settlement of large swap positions between the banks and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

According to estimates, the overall swap books of some Nigerian banks stood at about $5 billion, with most of it to be paid back this year.