Nigeria’s foreign exchange reserves were $31.43 billion on Aug. 27, up 1.12 percent from $31.08 billion a month earlier, data from the Central Bank of Nigeria showed on Monday.

Compared with the data a year ago, when the reserve was $39.61, Monday’s figure showed a slump of 20.65 percent.

The figure also showed a slight decline from $31.63 billion recorded on Aug. 14. On 2 June 2015, it was $29.4 billion

To shore up the naira, the CBN has embarked on a consistent dollar sales to bureau de change operators to narrow the margin between the naira currency’s official and black market rates.