Posted by Oluyinka Akintunde, Abuja on
Nigeria's external reserves level rose to $27.08billion as at November 2005 from its previous level of $23.92billion, the Central Bank of Nigeria said on Thursday in its monthly report.
Nigeria's external reserves level rose to $27.08billion as at November 2005 from its previous level of $23.92billion, the Central Bank of Nigeria said on Thursday in its monthly report.
The external reserves level had crashed to $23.92billion in October 2005 after the removal of $6.3billion by the Federal Government for the payment of arrears owed by Nigeria to the Paris Club.
The CBN, which disclosed this in its monthly report for November 2005 obtained by our correspondent in Abuja, said the external reserves grew by 13.2 per cent from its level in October 2005 to $27.08billion end-November 2005.
'At the current rate of foreign exchange commitments, the level of reserves could finance about 21.8 months of foreign exchange disbursement, compared with 13.3 months in October 2005," the apex bank stated.
The CBN report indicated that the rate of inflation for November 2005, on a year-on-year basis, stood at 21.1 per cent as against 23.1 per cent estimated for October 2005.
The bank attributed the decline in inflation rate to the continued harvesting of agricultural produce, which it noted moderated rising food prices as well as the relative stability in the prices of petroleum products.
'The inflation rate on a 12-month moving average basis for the period ended November 2005 was, however, estimated at 18.7 per cent, compared with 17.8 per cent in October 2005," it added.
The CBN further said that there was a general decline in banks' deposits and lending rates in the month of November 2005.
According to it, the average savings deposit rate declined by 0.15 percentage point to 3.17 per cent, while rates on deposits of various maturities declined from a range of 4.28 - 8.64 per cent in October to 4.14 - 8.09 per cent in November 2005.
'The average prime lending rate similarly declined by 0.02 percentage point to 17.52 per cent. The average maximum lending rate, however, increased marginally by 0.02 percentage point to 19.24 per cent.
'Consequently, the spread between the weighted average deposit and maximum lending rates widened from 12.88 percentage points in October 13.53 percentage points in November 2005," it explained.
Besides, the bank stated that the margin between the average savings deposit and maximum lending rates rose from 15.82 percentage points in the preceding month to 16.07 percentage points.
The PUNCH, Friday, January 06, 2006