The CBN revealed in its data on movement in reserves that
the value rose from $39.54bn as of April 1, 2022 to $39.78bn as of April 19,
2022.
The external reserves fell by $313m in March, after starting
the month at $39.86bn, before falling to $39.55bn on March 30.
The Governor, CBN, Godwin Emefiele, said at the last
Monetary Policy Committee meeting that “The moderate accretion to reserves
reflects the duality of Nigeria’s position as an oil exporter and importer of
refined petroleum products.”
A member of the Monetary Policy Committee, Prof. Mike
Obadan, said for a long time, the oil sector had contributed over 90 per cent
of the nation’s foreign exchange earnings and external reserves accretion.
It has also been a significant contributor to the
government’s naira revenue through crude oil and gas export receipts, he said.
Obadan said, “But for some time now, this has not been so
due to two factors: a huge volume of crude oil theft which has prevented the
country from meeting even the OPEC-approved production quota, and the inability
of the NNPC, for many months, to make any remittance from direct oil export
sales into the Federation Account and external reserves account.
“These are alarming developments which have adversely
impacted government’s finances, external reserves accretion and exchange rate
stability.
“The inhibiting factors are what the government can check in
the short-term.”
He said it was inconceivable that all the foreign exchange
earned from the export of crude oil and gas was used to import refined
petroleum products or that ‘under-recovery’ / petroleum subsidy was absorbing
all the foreign exchange earned from oil sales.
The professor said, “I will therefore strongly appeal to the
government to appreciate the grave implications of the oil sector and NNPC’s
underperformance and effectively deal with the oil thefts and non-remittance of
foreign exchange/naira revenue.
“If, in the presence of the array of security forces in the
oil-producing areas, monumental oil theft is taking place to the detriment of
the economy, then drastic measures are called for.
“Government should check the untoward developments, through
effective security and monitoring, and the positive impact on government
finances, external reserves and exchange rate stability will be visible in a
short period.”
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