According to the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) official currency reserves status data report, forex reserves decreased by $163.67 million last week.
It was the culmination of a 10-week downward streak.
According to the report, currency reserves fell from $37.211 billion on January 16, 2023, to $35.78 billion at the weekend.
Nigeria’s external reserves, which had peaked at around $37.08 billion in 2022, had risen to $37.211 billion on January 16, 2023.
It has now declined, falling to a lower level every week for the past ten weeks.
Experts believed that the CBN’s currency management approach was directly responsible for Nigeria’s fragile foreign reserves situation.
Because of the central bank’s fixed-rate, controlled exchange policy, parallel markets have emerged, with 290 basis points separating the official rate from the market-driven, unofficial parallel market.
The naira has fallen from N453.58 to N460.98 per dollar in the last ten weeks.