By Abiola Olawale
Nigeria has faced a significant decline in its foreign exchange reserves in January 2025.
This is as the foreign exchange reserves fell by a substantial $832.62 million over two weeks, from January 6 to January 21.
This was revealed in a report released by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on its official website.
According to the official data from the CBN, Nigeria’s gross external reserves stood at $40.92 billion on January 6, 2025, however, by January 21, the figure had declined to $40.09 billion, representing a 2.03 percent decrease in just two weeks.
The decline comes after about five months of relative stability and growth in the FX reserves.
On January 13, reserves fell below $40.6 billion for the first time in the month, dropping to $40.56 billion. The trend persisted as reserves slipped further to $40.42 billion on January 15, and by January 21, they reached $40.09 billion.
Further breakdown of the data showed that there was a drop of $167.1 million between January 10 and January 13.
Also, the CBN data reported a $502.5 million decline from January 6 to January 13, while there was a cumulative $832.62 million reduction between January 6 and January 21.