After a few weeks of rising, the country’s external reserves have once again started to fall, losing $4.8 million in two days. Data obtained from the website of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) showed that the reserves sank to $33.584 billion on August 12 from $33.589 billion recorded on August 10.
On August 11, the reserves totalled $33.586. Before the drop, for 17 days, the reserves gained $394.613 million. The upward trend started on July 14. Between July 14 and August 5, the reserves rose by $477.913 million and grew by another $23.224 million from August 6 to August 10.
Earlier in July, this newspaper reported that the reserves had dropped by $1.098 billion since June in a downward trend that started in March. The recent development follows the CBN’s decision to stop the sale of foreign exchange to the Bureau De Change and closely monitor all forex transactions, especially those done in US dollars. On Friday, the parallel market closed at N515 per dollar and the Investors and Exporters NAFEX window closed at N410.80 per dollar.