Business News
External reserves hit $9.4billion
Jun 4, 2003, 20:50
| | The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has announced that the country’s dwindling external reserves are showing signs of improvement.
In its monthly report for March 2003, the CBN put Nigeria’s external reserves at N1.3trillion ($9.4billion) as at April 2003. This amount represents a 15 percent increase from March 2003.
According to the CBN, the reserves could finance about 7.8 months of imports at current exchange rates.
The Bank attributed the increase to improved sales of crude oil, condensates and natural liquid gas estimated at 2.02 million barrels per day during the month of April. In March, the country sold on average of 1.95 million barrels per day.
The rise in oil sales is the result of full resumption of production activities in the Niger Delta Region following the end of communal crises in Warri.
The total OPEC output was also maintained at a 6.8 percent level in April, compared with 6.4 percent in the preceding month.
On the whole, crude oil exports for April were estimated at 1.57 million barrels per day, or 47.10 million barrels for the entire month, indicating an increase of 4.7 percent over sales in March.
© Copyright 2006 nigeriafirst.org
Top of Page | 
