Nigeria’s external reserves continued to deplete even as the price of crude at the international market continued to rise. By the end of last month, the nation’s external reserves had declined by 14.4 per cent and as at April 29, 2015, the reserves had declined to $29.512 billion compared to the $34.45 billion it was at as at the beginning of the year, according to figures made available on the website of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Year-on-year, the reserves had declined by 22.6 per cent compared to the $38.15 billion it was at on April 29, 2014. Meanwhile the price of crude oil continued to rally at the international market. Brent Crude, according to Bloomberg stood at $66.97 per barrel while Bonny Light which Nigeria sells was priced at $65.32 per barrel according to figures given by the CBN. Last year, the country’s external reserves shed an accumulated 17.5 per cent within 12 months. Reserves which was $43.5 billion at the beginning of 2014 dropped to $35.88 billion by the end of last year. To curb the declining level of the reserves, the CBN had cancelled its twice weekly retail Dutch auction as part of measures to curtail the excesses in the foreign exchange market but will also reduce pressure on the naira. The value of the naira at the interbank market had remained at N197 to the dollar while at the parallel market the United States currency sold around N220. The naira which had traded as high as N250 at the parallel market regained strength following increasing confidence after the success of the Nigerian general elections. At the interbank market, lending rates continued to face south with overnight rate down by 0.73 per cent to 9.1 per cent. One-month, 3-month and 6-month monies were down by 0.61, 0.65 and 0.44 per cents to stand at 12.3428, 13.3458 and 14.7194 per cents respectively.