Nigeria's External Reserves Rise To $27,881 Billion As At March 8.

This comes after global oil prices shot back over $40 per barrel According to the latest data provided by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the nation’s foreign exchange reserves have continued a steady rise. Reserves which had slowly recovered since February having declined to $27.789 billion stood at $27.823 billion as at February 29 but had risen to $27,881 billion as at Tuesday March 8, 2016.

Meanwhile, global oil prices broke above the $40-a-barrel mark on March 9, as there are hopes the world’s largest exporters may reach an agreement to freeze in output as soon as this month. The Debt Management Office annouced its plans to raise N100 billion in local currency denominated bonds with maturities ranging between five and 20 years next week. 

The auction and settlement dates for the bond issuance are March 16 and March 18, respectively. The first debt auction of the year took take place on January 20. The DMO issued between N40 billion and N60 billion of bonds maturing in 2020 and 2026. The 2020 and 2026 debts are a re-opening of a previously issued paper, while the 2036 debt is a new issue. The 2016 budget deficit is expected to raise Nigeria’s overall debt profile to 14% of GDP. Nigeria’s current debt-to-GDP ratio is 11.5%. At the interbank market, lending rates among banks faced south with the exception of overnight rates which rose to 5.0487% from 4.7917% which it was in Tuesday. 

One month rate dropped to 7.6966% from 8.0506%. Three and six month’s rate also dropped from 9.4052 and 11.0947% to 8.9165 and 10.757% respectively. The evolution of the foreign exchange market in Nigeria has been influenced by a number of factors such as the changing pattern of international trade, institutional changes in the economy and structural shifts in production.