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KonkNaija Media | May 3, 2016

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CBN governor suggests ways to grow foreign reserves

Sanusi Lamido

Sanusi Lamido

The Central Bank Governor (CBN), Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, has said that West African countries can grow their foreign reserves by developing the different classes and sectors of their economies.

Sanusi, who was represented  by the CBN’s Deputy Governor (Operations), Tunde Lemo, said this on Monday, in Abuja at the opening of the ‘West African Regional Course on Optimising Reserve and Foreign Exchange Management for Income Generation’.

“In order to optimise returns on external reserves, the central banks need to introduce initiatives that will mitigate risk and increase returns on their country’s foreign reserve portfolios,” he said.

“This can be achieved through diversification into different asset classes, sectors and geographical locations. This, therefore, calls for skills enhancement and capacity building in reserve management.”

According to Sanusi, one of the major challenges facing the central banks in the region was how to generate income from their foreign reserves without compromising reserve management objectives.

The course was organised by the West African Institute for Financial and Economic Management (WAIFEM), for the foreign exchange and reserve managers of the apex banks of countries in West Africa.

Lemo said that the course was aimed at creating a platform on which participants from central banks in the sub-region could exchange ideas to help build the skills of reserve managers.

“It will provide deeper knowledge and understanding on various means to optimise reserves and foreign exchange for income generation,” he said.