Nigeria’s foreign reserves have received a significant boost, with a monthly net inflow of $2.35 billion, according to Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun.
Gatekeepers News reports that this development has contributed to the stability of the naira in the foreign exchange market, Edun revealed at the Access Bank annual corporate forum in Lagos.
Edun attributed the increase in foreign reserves to the relative stability of the currency, saying, “We have relative currency stability. And of course, the all-important margin of the rates. We’ve seen a gradual elimination of multiple exchange rates.”
He also highlighted the growth in government revenues, noting that “the key to government revenue is not so much that government has revenue to compete with the private sector, but the fundamentals, the social and the key infrastructure spending”.
The minister emphasized that Nigeria’s tax-to-GDP ratio remains low at 10%, while the revenue-to-GDP ratio stands at around 15%. To address this, the government is working to ramp up crude oil production to 2 million barrels per day before the end of 2024.
Edun also stressed the importance of diversifying the country’s exports, particularly in the service sector.
“Our exports need to be significantly diversified, and an important area we need to look at is the services. We have the demographics as well as the relatively skilled population, which means we can export our services,” he added
