External Reserves Hit $36.86bn

THE Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited’s revenue helped boost the country’s gross external reserves balance to $36.86 billion, as more inflows from various sources were anticipated.

The top bank announced $63 million in foreign exchange inflows in August 2024, increasing the external reserves balance from $36.797 billion at the end of July 2024.

Since the government gave the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) control over NNPCL income collection, the balance in the country’s external reserves has been steadily increasing.

The FX inflow pattern showed daily accretion with a few days gap between receipts, according to data from the CBN. At the current level, the total balance in external reserves can comfortably cover 12–13 months of imports based on the latest trade data, analysts said.

The market anticipates that remittance inflows will continue to lift the balance in the external reserves, though there is an indication that the amount has been pledged against various contracts, including FX swaps and oil-backed loan deals by NNPCL.

The Nigerian government had announced a plan to sell US dollar bonds to raise hard currency; at the same time, the authority was pursuing loans from a multilateral lender, the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Upon approval of the $2.2 billion disbursement, the decision to raise US dollar bonds from investors was jettisoned. The IMF loans and Afreximbank oil-backed loans were among the inflows that lifted the balance.

Eighteen-Eleven Media