With growing worries over the apparent disappearance of freshly redesigned notes, the Central Bank of Nigeria has announced that it is providing more of the new notes to banks.
According to a statement provided to our correspondent on Sunday by the CBN’s Acting Director of Corporate Communications, Dr Isa AbdulMumim. Banks are anticipated to distribute the new currency to their consumers via over-the-counter payments and ATMs.
The statement by the CBN read, “We wish to reiterate that the new and old currency notes have been circulating side by side just as the bank has been taking delivery of a good quantity of the redesigned bank notes from the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company Limited.
“Furthermore, we are committed to supplying the approved indent for the smooth running of the economy. We, therefore, urge members of the public to disregard any report suggesting a phase-out of the redesigned currency.”
The CBN reiterated that the redesigned and old notes will continue to be acknowledged as legal cash and circulate side by side for transactions until the old N1000, N500, and N200 banknotes are phased out on December 31, 2023.
According to the PUNCH, the country’s currency in circulation increased by N701.4tn in one month to N1.6tn in March 2023 after the CBN changed its position on the naira redesign. Currency-in-circulation is defined by the CBN as currency outside the central bank’s vaults; that is, all legal tender currencies in the hands of the public and in the vaults of Deposit Money Banks.
On the heels of the CBN’s naira redesign program, the country’s currency in circulation has fallen by 235.03 percent to N982.09bn at the end of February from N3.29tn at the end of October 2022. According to CBN figures, N2.3tn was removed from circulation during the time under consideration.
The policy has disproportionately impacted the most vulnerable segments of the population (the impoverished, the unbanked, and rural inhabitants), according to the study. Godwin Emefiele, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, revealed plans to revamp the old N200, N500, and N1,000 notes in October 2022.
The governor lamented the difficulties connected with money management, such as banknote hoarding by members of the public , with statistics showing that over 80 per cent of currency-in-circulation was outside the vaults of commercial banks.
