Nigeria, April 18 -- The Central Bank of Nigeria on Wednesday said the shift in Nigeria's foreign reserves has nothing to do with the apex bank's defence of the local currency.

The CBN Governor, Olayemi Cardoso, said this on Wednesday at the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Washington.

Nigeria's foreign exchange reserves dipped by about $2.16 billion recently, at $32.29 billion as of 15 April. The development comes amid significant appreciation in the value of the Naira against the US dollar.

The local currency appreciated from a low of about N1,900/$1 earlier in the year to a high of about N1,200/$1, on average, across foreign exchange markets.

Recently, media reports claimed that the central bank ...