Nigeria's Foreign Reserves Still Behind 3 Countries in Africa Despite Meteoric Rise in 42 Days to Over $40bn
- Nigeria is ranked fourth among African countries with the largest foreign reserves despite a meteoric rise between September and October 2021
- Data obtained from trading economics shows that Nigeria's forex reserves increased by 15% to $41.7 billion from $36.2 billion in September 2021
- Despite the significant increase, it is still below the foreign reserves level of South Africa, Algeria, Namibia
If Nigeria were a person and its wealth is determined by how much is left in external reserves, the country will sit at 33rd position in the richest billionaire list in the world.
Using the Bloomberg Billionaire index list, the closest rival to Nigeria $41.7 billion external reserves as at the end of October 2021, will be Jack Ma, the Chinese business magnate who on Monday 8, November 2021 is worth $42.5 billion.
In fact, Nigeria's foreign reserves are currently 710.5% lower than the richest man in the world Elon Musk worth of $338 billion.
Source: Getty Images
Data on foreign reserves are constantly kept on close watch, given that it connects to the country’s ability to meet up with the demand for forex at the foreign currency market.
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Without adequate reserves, an economy can grind to a halt, and a country may be unable to pay for critical imports, such as crude oil, or service its external debt.
Nigeria external reserves compared to other African countries
According to data which Legit.ng converted to U.S dollar for the ranking, South Africa as at the end of October 2021, has in its foreign reserves $57.5 billion. This is followed by Algeria's foreign reserves of $55 billion as at March 2020.
Namibia came in third with an impressive $46.01 billion reserves as at the end of September 2021. Nigeria with $41.7 billion sit in the fourth position
Egypt sits in fifth place with $40.8 billion foreign reserves as ath October 2021 while Morocco comes in the sixth position with foreign reserves of 35.03 billion as at the end of September 2021.
Kenya followed behind in the seventh position with $14.50 billion foreign reserves as at August 2021.
Other countries include:
Ghana $10.73 billion
Angola $9.59 billion
Tunisia $7.85 billion
Mauritius $7.66 billion
Congo $5.81 billion
Ex-CBN Head criticises Emefiele's decision to ban BDC operators from selling forex
Meanwhile, Obadiah Mailafia, a former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has criticised the decision of the apex bank to stop providing foreign exchange to bureau de change operators.
Mailafia said the decision could weaken the value of the naira against the dollar and other foreign currencies, as there might be a scarcity of forex.
With his experience of the banking system in Nigeria, Mailafia said the banks might hoard forex for themselves and sell at a high cost to buyers whenever the lenders want.
Source: Legit.ng
