Nigeria’s external reserves has dropped to $29.9billion for the first time since 2006. Data from the CBN website shows our Gross External reserves is $29,917,445,438 and net of $29,003,198,465 after deduction of amount blocked per Excess Crude.
Nigeria’s external reserves has been on a decline for the past 6 months as oil price decline as reduced the amount of forex accruable to the government. This has worsened as the demand for dollars soared since December 2014.
Analysts believe dropping below $30billion is a psychological touching point for Nigeria as it points to an imminent devalution of the Naira to save our currency from depleting beyond redemption. At $30billion our external reserves is can perhaps cater for just 4 months of imports lower than the 6 months of imports acceptable by most standards.
This is serious…I see the naira strength weakening further in the nearest future