Nigeria’s external reserves decline to N33bn in November 2023

Nigeria’s gross official reserves fell by $392 million to $33.0 billion in November 2023.

This is according to recent data on external essences issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on its website.

The decline implies that the gross external reserves have depleted by USD4.1 billion over the eleven months to Nov ’23, indicating an average monthly depletion rate of USD371 million. In addition to demand pressure from the CBN’s interventions on the foreign exchange market, a secondary factor responsible for the marked decrease are coupon payments on Nigeria’s Eurobonds, totaling roughly USD149m during the month.

Total reserves as at end-Nov ’23 covered 7.7 months of merchandise imports on the basis of the balance of payments for the 12 months to Jun ’23 and 5.7 months when we add services.

The new CBN leadership has begun addressing the structural issues with the fx policy, starting by clearing some of the FX backlog.

It is expected that with more proactive policies and engagements, foreign exchange liquidity into the country will improve.