Nigeria’s external reserves have experienced a notable decline of approximately $1.19 billion over the past three weeks.
This information comes from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), which has released data on gross external reserves. As of January 31, 2025, the reserves stood at $39.723 billion, down from $40.877 billion at the end of December 2024.
The decrease in the nation’s foreign currency reserves has been highlighted, even as the CBN has yet to update the status of the external reserves four days into February.
Despite this drop, the Naira has remained relatively stable, trading below the N1,500 per dollar threshold as of February 3, 2025.
This situation aligns with the projections from the Financial Derivatives Company (FDC), led by Bismarck Rewane, which anticipates a further decline of 11.47 percent in Nigeria’s gross external reserves for the 2025-2026 period.
The FDC analysts project that the Dollar/Naira exchange rate will average N1,586 in 2025 and N1,575 in 2026, compared to an average rate of N1,615 in 2024.
