Foreign reserves have risen to $34.65bn, within eleven days, according to a report released by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
According to the CBN report, the foreign reserves went up by $1.22bn from $33.42bn as of April 29th, 2020 to $34.65bn on May 11 2020.
Mr. Godwin Emefiele, who is the current CBN Governor, restated the urgent need for the government to reduce the reliance on oil revenue, during the last Monetary Policy Committee meeting of the Nigerian banking sector. He suggested that this could be done through creating diversity in the economy and improving on our tax collection.
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In Emefiele’s words, “Based on the current downturn in oil prices, staff projections indicate that output in 2020 would be less that earlier envisaged.”
“The major downside risks to this outlook, however, include the continued spread of COVID-19; further decline in crude oil prices and the reduction in accretion to external reserves; reduced government revenue leading to weak aggregate demand; declining non-oil receipts; as well as infrastructural and security challenges.”
Emefiele greatly emphasized pinning expenditure to critical sectors of the economy and embracing new regimes to enhance the build-up of buffers.
