By BLAISE UDUNZE
Nigeria’s foreign reserves rose to $45.91billion on January 30, adding $900million within two weeks. The reserves had on January 18, stood at $45.004billion, data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) website had shown.
The reserves had maintained a steady rise from $45.263billion on January 21; $45.35billion on January 22; $45.425billion on January 23 and $45.78billion on January 28.
The reserves had gained nearly $10billion in the last six months. It was $36.35billiob on August 7; rose to $36.41billion in August 8; $36.46 in August 9 and $36.51 in August 10. It had dropped to $36.36billion in July 20, from $37.19billion four weeks earlier, losing about $830million within this period.
The foreign currency reserves rose to $68billion in August 2008 before the global financial crises impacted negatively on it.
The apex bank had consistently maintained that inflow into the reserves was not consistent with oil prices and, this underscore the need for tighter fiscal controls around oil revenues. Analysts at Afrinvest said the CBN needs to build up adequate external reserves to satisfy the genuine need for foreign exchange as such is consistent with the increase in the growth in economic activity. It will equally assist in conserving resources and withstanding external shocks.
The CBN also said there was urgent to pursue policies that would foster macro-economic stability, economic diversification as well as encouraging foreign capital inflows. It said a higher rate of retention of oil revenues should facilit
