The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) last week disclosed that a whopping $1.34 billion (or about N201 billion) was spent on petroleum product imports in the first quarter of this year.
CBN Governor, Lamido Sanusi, who read out to reporters the communiqué of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting in Abuja, recalled that the Naira/Dollar exchange rate opened on February 1 at N151.85 to $1 and closed at N152.52 to $1 on March 17, a depreciation of 67 kobo or 0.44 per cent.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) last week disclosed that a whopping $1.34 billion (or about N201 billion) was spent on petroleum product imports in the first quarter of this year.
CBN Governor, Lamido Sanusi, who read out to reporters the communiqué of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting in Abuja, recalled that the Naira/Dollar exchange rate opened on February 1 at N151.85 to $1 and closed at N152.52 to $1 on March 17, a depreciation of 67 kobo or 0.44 per cent.
According to him, given the prevailing strong oil sector fundamentals, this trend is likely to be temporary, the MPC stressed, urging the CBN to continue to pursue the strategy of maintaining exchange rates stability to contain inflation.
The MPC however welcomed the recent build-up of foreign reserves owing to increased oil output and prices, noting that the reserves rose by $2.82 billion to $35.16 billion on March 16, from $32.34 billion in December last year.
It reiterated that the solution to reserves depletion lies in the implementation of reforms in industrial and trade policies to reduce dependence on imports.
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