The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has reported that hostage taking and general disruptions in the exploration of crude oil by militant Niger Delta youths cost the country N29,364,804,000 in February alone.
The bank�s monthly report for February 2006 released in Abuja at the weekend indicated that crude oil production including condensates and natural gas liquids fell from 2.46 million barrels per day in January to 2.30 million barrels per day in February.
�Nigeria�s crude oil production, including condensates and natural gas liquids, was estimated at 2.30 million barrels per day (mbd) in February 2006, compared with 2.46 mbd in the preceding month.
�Crude oil export was estimated at 1.85 mbd for the month, while deliveries to the refineries for domestic consumption remained at 0.45 mbd. The average price of Nigeria�s reference crude, the Bonny Light (370 API), estimated at US$61.33 per barrel, declined by 3.9 per cent from the level in January 2006.� Despite this, however, foreign exchange inflow and outflow through the CBN in February amounted to US$3.59 billion and US$0.51 billion, respectively, resulting in a net inflow of US$3.08 billion during the month.
The CBN disclosed that demand pressure in the foreign exchange market intensified in February, as foreign exchange sales by the CBN to the authorised dealers rose by 51.5 per cent over the preceding month�s level while the weighted average exchange rate of the naira vis-�-vis the US dollar appreciated by 0.5 per cent to N128.25 per dollar in February.
�In the bureaux de change segment of the market, the rate depreciated from N144.09 per dollar to N145.36 per dollar during the review month,� the report added.
Also, Nigeria�s gross external reserve increased by 9.3 per cent to $34.24 billion in February and non-oil export earnings by Nigeria�s top 100 exporters in February amounted to $72.05 million, indicating an increase of 71.3 per cent over the level in the preceding month.
The apex bank attributed the increase in non-oil export earnings to the increase in the prices of some of the commodities traded at the international commodities market during the review month.
On sectoral utilisation of foreign exchange, the industrial sector accounted for the bulk (43.8 per cent) of total foreign exchange disbursed in February, followed by general merchandise (23.7 per cent).
Other beneficiary sectors, in a descending order of importance, included: food (11.8 per cent), transport (10.1 per cent), invisibles (10.0 per cent), and agricultural products (0.6 per cent).