From almost US$3.0 billion per month in 2014 to zero dollars now, Nigeria’s official foreign exchange receipts from crude oil sales have progressively decreased.
This is according to a speech given by Godwin Emefiele, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on November 25, 2022, at the 57th Annual Bankers Dinner in Lagos. “Radical Responses to Abnormal Episodes: Time for Innovative Decision-making” was the event’s topic.
Due to a sharp decline in domestic crude oil production from over 1.9 million barrels per day in April 2020 to 1.1 million barrels per day in September 2022, the nation is unable to reach its meager production target. Given that close to 80% of Nigeria’s energy comes from crude oil, the drop in production has resulted in a significant drop in our foreign exchange earnings as well as government revenue,” Emefiele said.
In recent time the downward short-run trend of the external reserves reappeared at the beginning of 2022, according to Emefiele. After recovery from US$33.7 billion in March 2020 to US$41.6 billion in September 2021, official reserves fell to about US$37 billion as at October 2022.