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CBN to hold 5-10 pct of forex in Chinese yuan

By on September 5, 2011

Nigeria’s central bank is diversifying its foreign exchange reserves away from the U.S. dollar and will hold between 5 to 10 percent of them in Chinese yuan, central bank governor Lamido Sanusi told CNBC news on Monday.

The central bank has been considering changing its foreign exchange reserves so that it is less reliant on the U.S. currency.

“We are looking at anything to start with from 5 to 10 percent of our reserves,” Sanusi told CNBC by telephone from China.

But he added: “The dollar and the euro … are not going to disappear. They are going to remain an important part of our holdings.”

Total reserves currently stand at $32.96 billion, according the bank’s website.

Deputy governor Kingsley Moghalu told Reuters last month that the decision to diversify away from the U.S. dollar had been taken before Standard & Poor’s cut the United States’ triple-A credit rating.

Nigeria’s central bank said in January it had added the Chinese yuan to a list of currencies that can be used for trade settlement in the domestic foreign exchange market as trade flows with China increase.

Reuters