Nigeria’s external reserves dropped to about $28.2 billion as at Friday January 29th 2016 according to data available on the website of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). This is the lowest level it has reported since 2005.
The CBN has jealously guarded the exchange reserves of Africa’s largest economy by dishing out several policies that are mostly viewed as capital controls, while President Buhari has also vowed not to devalue the naira.
The apex bank had announced some weeks back that it will be stopping the sale of forex to Bureaux De Change (BDC) operators, and also permitted banks to receive forex deposits.
The fall in oil prices prompted the CBN to make this decision, as the foreign exchange reserves had depleted from $37.3 billion in June 2014 to $28 billion when the decision was taken.
