Naira appreciation: Nigeria gets fresh $600m into FX reserves

Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Olayemi Cardoso, says Nigeria received $600 into the country’s foreign reserves.

The development will see the Naira appreciate further below N1,074 per Dollar at the official market in the coming days.

The CBN governor made the revelation at the International Monetary Fund’s spring meetings in Washington, D.C, Wednesday.

The apex bank clarified that the shifts in the country’s reserves have nothing to do with defending the Naira in the FX market.

“In the next couple of days, I think between yesterday and today, we had about $600 million into the reserves account, so I wouldn’t let people get too excited about it. That’s where we’re going. So the shifts you’ve seen in our reserves have nothing to do with defending Naira,” he said.

However, Cardoso noted that the apex bank is focused on getting the foreign exchange market to independence, where market forces control it.

“It is not my intention to defend the Naira. We’re pushing the markets to a willing buyer / willing seller price discovery. And ultimately, I perceive a future where the central bank will not need to intervene.

“What is important to us is that there’s sufficient liquidity in the market, which I’ve spoken about here today,” he said.

He added that the CBN’s recent sales of FX were part of its efforts to catalyse the Bureau de Change market.

Recall that DAILY POST reported that Nigeria’s foreign exchange reserves stood at $32.29 billion as of April 15; however, with the additional $600 million inflow, the external reserves would rise to about $33.49 billion.