LAGOS, July 7, 2008 (AFP) - Nigeria's foreign currency reserves dropped to 59.3 billion dollars (37.8 billion euros) in the first week of July from 60.8 billion in the middle of June, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said Monday.

The CBN did not give any reasons for the fall in the reserves which had risen in recent months due to high oil prices worldwide.

Oil-rich Nigeria was until recently Africa's largest petroleum producer before it was overtaken in April by Angola, according to the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

Nigeria's output of 2.6 million barrels per day at peak level has been slashed because of unrest in the oil-producing south in the past two years.