External Reserves Rises to Two-Year High

• External Reserves Rises to Two-Year High

The Nigerian foreign exchange reserves rose to a two-year high in August.

According to the Central Bank of Nigeria, the external reserves increased to $31.22 billion on August 8, from as low as $24 billion in 2015.

The reserves, which has been impacted by global oil glut, jumped to a level last since in July 2015.

Experts believed the relative calm in the Niger-Delta region has helped foreign revenue generation. However, production cap by OPEC could slow down current progress once 1.8 mbpd is attained.

Nigeria’s economic outlook remains healthy following a series of positive growth recorded in the first half of 2017. The Nigerian Stock Exchange All Share Index rose 23.2 percent in the first half of the year, even though there has been occasional profit taking since the second half began, the stock market has risen 13.3 percent as at Tuesday.  Bringing its year to date growth to 39.6 percent.

“Nigerian equity market went from one of the worst performing global stocks to top 2017 best performing equity markets,” said Samed Olukoya, a foreign exchange research analyst at Investors King Ltd. “The new economic and growth plan continued to aid market sentiment and drive new investment.”

Meanwhile, in an effort to finance budget deficit, the central bank has announced its plan to sell another N62.43 billion ($171m) of treasury bills at an auction next Wednesday.

The apex bank will offer N32.43 billion in three-month paper and N30 billions of a six-month bill.

The Naira remains steady at N363 to a US dollar.