The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said that the nation’s external reserves, which is currently at $35bn, was sufficient to cover 7 months of imports of goods and services.
This was contained in the apex bank’s 2020 economy review and 2021 outlook, released recently.
In the review and outlook, the Bank explained that with the decline in the nation’s foreign exchange earnings and successive exchange rate adjustments, it was forced to implement a demand management framework which is designed to bolster the production of items that can be produced in Nigeria, and aid conservation of external reserves.
Aledeh.com quoted the CBN to have said in the report that “Due to the unprecedented nature of the shock, we continued to favour a gradual liberalisation of the foreign exchange market in order to smoothen exchange rate volatility and mitigate the impact which rapid changes in the exchange rate could have on key macro-economic variables.
“This, we believe, is in line with international best practices in countries where managed float arrangements are in operation.
“At the same time, measures are being taken by the authorities to improve our non-oil exports and other sources of foreign exchange. These measures have helped to prevent a significant decline in our reserves.
“Our external reserves currently stand above $35 billion and are sufficient to cover seven months of import of goods and services.”
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