NAN-HE-2
Reserves
By Olawunmi Ashafa
Lagos, March 23, 2017(NAN) The rising stock of Nigeria’s external reserves is an indication of a positive future outlook for Nigeria.
Mr Titus Okunrounmu, a former Director of Research Department in Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), made the observation in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Thursday.
The CBN, had on March 9, announced that the external reserves stood at 30 billion dollars, a steady rise since January when it was N27.3 billion dollars.
The last time the reserves rose above 30 billion dollars was in July 2015 when it was as high as 31.63 billion dollars before it started declining.
Okunrounmu expressed optimism that the increase in the foreign reserves would boost investors’ confidence in the country’s economy.
He said that high external reserves served as a buffer against external shocks like the volatility in the international oil market and others.
Okurounmu attributed the success of the Euro-bond recently floated by Nigeria to investors’ confidence which hinged on the state of external reserves.
He listed China and Saudi Arabia as countries that had accumulated up to three trillion dollars and 500 billion dollars in external reserves, respectively and were still growing the reserves further.
The expert said that external reserves were important for meeting international financial obligations of a country.
According to him, the higher the external reserves, the higher confidence foreigners would have in the ability of the country to meet its external obligations. (NAN)
AWA/AOM/TA
Edited Abdullahi Mohammed/Tajudeen Atitebi