Nigeria’s foreign reserve has risen to $28.9 billion. CBN warns govt against reckless spending. cc @DrJoeAbah

CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele.

Nigeria’s foreign reserve has risen to $28.9 billion.

This was made known yesterday by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele.

He told reporters at the end of the bi-monthly Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting in Abuja that Nigerian government would take from the fund only when necessary.

“The fact that we have began to see some accretion to the reserve does not mean we should be reckless,” Emefiele warned.

He said the CBN “will continue with the policy of ensuring that forex is made available to those who are importing raw materials and supporting the agricultural sector but not to those who want to engage in less important sectors of the economy.

“It is exciting to see this (rise in foreign resreves) happen. We do not run a floating regime, we run a managed float.

“What that means is that from time to time we will continue to intervene in the market to ensure that the exchange rate does not go beyond our expectations and those interventions would be to moderate the risk as we deem necessary”.

On accusations that the CBN often changes exchange rates, Emefiele appealed to “those who are out there fomenting this bad stories in order to portray the monetary authorities in bad light to please assist us, if they have questions they should please approach us, we would respond to them as appropriate.”

“What I had expected is that they would talk to us, I know they know but of course the objectives they’re pursuing is best known to them,” he said.

(DAILY POST)