Data from the Central Bank of Nigeria showed on Tuesday May 19 that the foreign exchange reserves rose marginally by 1.05% month-on-month to $29.80 billion by May 15 from $29.49 billion a month earlier.
The forex reserves of Africa’s biggest economy and top crude exporter have been on the decline since last year when the central bank used the reserves to support the ailing naira currency, which has depreciated by 7.5% so far this year due to falling global oil prices.
The reserves were however down 20.6% year-on-year, compared with $37.54 billion in the same period a year ago.