THE steep drop being witnessed in gross foreign reserves since the beginning of the year has widened by $1.22 billion, figures obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) website have shown.

Nigeria’s foreign reserves, which stood at $37.08 billion at the beginning of the year, had fallen to $35.87 billion by March 20.

Findings by The ICIR showed that in the month of March, foreign reserves slumped by $811.25 million, that is from $36,678,837,822 to $35,867,588,998 as at March 20.

In February, the reserves had dropped by $317.32 million from $36,996,157,229 to $36,678,837,822; and earlier in January, it had gone down by $86.62 million, from $37,082,778,138 to $36,996,157,229.

Held by the CBN, foreign reserves are assets that include foreign currencies, bonds, treasury bills, and other government securities.

The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, had on Tuesday March 21 noted the decline in foreign reserves in his briefing at the end of the apex bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting.

Emefiele said, “The Committee, however, noted the marginal decline in the level of gross external reserves to US$36.13 billion in February 2023, from US$36.4 billion in January 2023, a decrease of 0.7 per cent, reflecting the downtrend in crude oil prices, as global uncertainties persist.”

Analysts say proceeds from crude oil owes much to the movement of the foreign reserves either to move upward or downward. So, a rise in the price of crude oil will automatically bring about a noticeable increase in foreign reserves.

Crude oil price, which stood at $82.81 per barrel at the beginning of the year, has fallen to $75.29 as at March 21.

The apparent decline in the price of crude oil, coupled with the fact that Nigeria is barely meeting up with its Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ quota, arising from insecurity and theft, is a strain on the foreign reserves, besides other internal and external factors.