Nigeria’s External Reserves Cross $40 Billion Mark

The Central Bank of Nigeria reported external reserves reached N40.4 billion on Monday, surpassing the $40 billion projection made by Governor Godwin Emefiele earlier this year.

This increase followed the CBN's $210 million injection into the interbank foreign exchange market during the first trading round of 2018.

External reserves rose by approximately one billion dollars between December 2017 and January 2018, according to CBN data.

Acting Director Isaac Okorafor linked the reserve growth to the CBN's strategy for managing forex demand across economic sectors.

The policy restricting forex access for 41 specific import items helped curb significant reserve depletion caused by import bills and debt obligations.

This measure reduced Nigeria's monthly import bills from over $5 billion in 2015 to about $1.5 billion by 2017.