The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says the nation’s external reserves has dropped by 80 million dollars (about N12.4 billion).
The drop, reported on the bank’s Website on Friday, represented a 2.81 per cent decrease. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that by the drop, the nation’s external reserves now stand at 44.26 billion dollars from 44.34 billion dollars reported on Dec. 24. NAN reports that the nation’s external reserves have been growing grow since August, but started declining on Dec. 10
. Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, has stressed the need for Nigeria to shore up its external reserves. Okonjo-Iweala, at a meeting with the Organised Private Sector in July, said that there was the need to build up the reserves to 50 billion dollars before the end of December. She said that high external reserves would help the country in the event of any economic recession.
