Nigeria’s external reserves has remained on a downward slope as the economic crunch bites harder occasioned by the devalued currency and the price fluctuation in the global oil market.
A data from the , showed that as at August 17, 2016, the reserve stood at $25.209bn from about $30.837bn recorded on August 13, 2015, representing about $5.628bn reflected in a year period.
In a week, between August 11, and 17, the foreign reserve depreciated by $119.810m from $25.329bn to $25.209bn.
However in the same period of 2015, the reserve rose by $84.990million.
In the first week of August 2015, it peaked at $31.537bn as against the $30.837 recorded in the second week, by August 13, 2015.
This period saw currency control regime of the CBN which led to the depletion Nigeria’s foreign reserve as the apex bank struggled to shore up the Naira, an effort which became futile. The CBN lately had introduced a number of measures to reduce the pressure on foreign reserve.
Some of these measures including, restricting Foreign Exchange sales to 41 items, banned of sale of FX to BDCs, restrictions on daily FX spending on ATM abroad and other policies. However, this measure is yet to significantly impact on the nation’s reserves.
