LAGOS, Sept 29 (Reuters) - Nigeria's central bank said on
Tuesday its foreign reserves have grown by $200 million after a
London court ordered the release of a guarantee put in place as
security for a failed gas project.
Nigeria's dollar reserve has lost 15% of its value in the
last year and has come under pressure as demand for hard
currency soared after the coronavirus pandemic triggered a
collapse in the price of oil, the country's main export.
In November, the Nigerian government deposited a bank
guarantee of $200 million with a high court in London to secure
a stay on asset seizures of up to $9 billion related to a failed
gas project. Process & Industrial Developments (P&ID), a firm based in
the British Virgin Islands set up solely to build a gas
processing plant in Nigeria, won a $6.6 billion arbitration
award after the 2010 deal collapsed. The award has been accruing
interest since 2013.
Nigeria successfully sought the right to appeal a ruling
last year that would have converted the arbitration award to a
judgment, which would make it easier for P&ID to seize its
assets. It has said it would fight making any kind of payment to
P&ID.
The central bank said the court awarded a 70,000-pound cost
in favour of Nigeria in addition to an earlier award of 1.5
million pounds.