Nigeria's foreign exchange reserves rise by 1 pct by May 15

Nigeria's foreign exchange reserves rose marginally by 1.05 percent month-on-month to $29.80 billion by May 15 from $29.49 billion a month earlier, data from the central bank showed on Tuesday.

The forex reserves of Africa's biggest economy and top crude exporter have been on the decline since last year when the central bank used the reserves to support the ailing naira currency, which has depreciated by 7.5 percent so far this year due to falling global oil prices.

The reserves were however down 20.6 percent year-on-year, compared with $37.54 billion in the same period a year ago.