Foreign reserves drop by $35.9m in 1 day

By Kayode Tokede

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has disclosed that the foreign reserve dropped by $35.9million in one day from $35.22billion on Monday to $35.18billion on Tuesday.

Our correspondent gathered that foreign reserves in April have been on a steady increase, reaching a peak of $35.25billion on Friday.

Analysts have expressed that CBN’s foreign reserves received a consistent boost in recent times, owing to the growth in the price of crude oil and its policy to pay Nigerians for any unit of dollar received from the diaspora.

Meanwhile, the country’s reserve position is set to receive a further boost as the Federal Government announced its plans to issue 500 million Eurobonds for 2021.

Meanwhile, Naira at the Investors & Exporters Foreign Exchange (I& EFX) window lost by 0.08per cent, 0.14 per cent and 0.13 per cent against the Dollar, Euro and Pound Sterling closing at  N410.67, N491.83 and N569.67 respectively.

At the parallel market the Naira lost by 0.35per cent against the Euro to close at N577 and gained by 0.30per cent against the Pound Sterling printing at N670. It closed flat against the Dollar at N486.

Money market rates were up today as the Open Buy Back and Overnight rates gained 75bps and 150bps printing at 13 per cent and 14 per cent respectively.

The bond market was mixed today with yields moving non-directionally.  While the yields on the 5-year benchmark bond lost four basis points to close at 11.93 per cent, yields on the 10yr benchmark bond gained 12bps to close at 12.30 per cent. The yields on 7-year benchmark bond closed flat at 12.38 per cent.