Nigeria's FX buffer rises to almost 5-year high of $47bn on April 16

LAGOS: Nigeria's foreign exchange reserves rose to the highest in almost five years as of April 16, hitting $47 billion, central bank data showed on Thursday.

That put the country's dollar reserves back at a level not seen since July 2013, the data showed.

The bank did not provide a reason for the increase in reserves. However the price of crude, its mainstay has been rising and the West African country has also been selling bonds on international debt markets.

Nigeria's forex buffer stood at $30.44 billion, up 54.4 percent from a year ago, but is still far off a peak of $64 billion hit in August 2008.