The country’s external reserves rose by $2.4 billion in the third quarter ended September, the Central Bank of Nigeria has said.
According to the data obtained from the apex bank on Thursday, the reserves which stood at $34.02 billion as of the end of August rose to $36.41 billion as of September 2021.
Speaking at the last Monetary Policy Committee meeting, the Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emfiele, said, “The committee noted the significant increase in the external reserves which rose to $35.97 billion at end-August 2021 from $33.49 billion at end-July 2021, representing an increase of 7.41per cent.
“It also welcomed the further increase to $36.03billion on September 13, 2021.”
According to him, available data and forecasts for key macroeconomic variables for the Nigerian economy suggested further rebound in output growth for the rest of the year.
He said that this would, however, be hinged on the continued stability in oil price and robust vaccination in Nigeria and across other countries.
The CBN governor said that foreign exchange market stability, further reduction in inflationary pressure in the economy, and continued interventions by the monetary and fiscal authorities, were very important factors to sustain the recovery momentum.
He added that the Nigerian economy was forecast to grow in 2021 by 2.86 per cent, three per cent (Federal Government) and 2.5 per cent (International Monetary Fund).
A September 21, 2021 report by Comercio Partners on ‘Traders Voice’, observed an improvement in the reserves.
Part of the report said, “The position of our FX reserves improved by $1.94billion from $33.33billion on the 27th of July 2021 to $35.27billion on the 15th of September 2021″.