The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele has disclosed that the Foreign Reserves of the country were on the uptick since the end of last month.
Speaking at a press conference after his inaugural Monetary Policy Committee meeting in Abuja, Emefiele said that foreign reserves had risen to $40.2 billion from $37.31 billion at the end of June.
He said: “Gross official reserves rose to US$40.20 billion by July 18 from US$37.31 billion at end June 2014. The increase in reserves was mainly due to increased accretion and moderation in the rate of depletion.”
On Infaltion, the Governor reported, “Developments in the aggregate price level suggest an underlying inflationary pressure since January 2014.
“The year-on-year headline inflation steadily inched up marginally from 7.9 percent in April to 8.0 percent in May 2014 and further to 8.2 percent in June.
“The up tick in June was, however, largely attributed to the rise in food inflation which rose from 9.7 percent in May 2014 to 9.8 percent in June, while core inflation, on the other hand, rose from 7.7 percent in May 2014 to 8.1 percent in June.
“The Committee further expressed concern about the liquidity level and the trending uptick in inflation which may not be unconnected with the poor harvest in some agricultural areas, particularly in the north-eastern and central states of the country.”
On the Central Bank’s drive to reduce interest rates, Emefiele said, “We can see that the micro-economy is beginning to move into the direction that we expect and we are going to see the reversal of interest rate in the near future.
“We are optimistic of the mandate of bringing down the interest rate. We will do everything doable to ensure that this is achieved. We will do that within the ambit of the parameters involved and ensure that we do not create another problem for the people.
“We are working on the issue of interest rate. In my inaugural speech on June 5, I said that we are going to pursue a gradual reduction of interest rate. It is a five-year agenda that we made.”