The new naira notes will go into circulation on Thursday, with deposit money banks starting to distribute them to their customers via over-the-counter payments.
The new measures were unveiled by Nigeria’s president, Muhammadu Buhari, during a weekly Federal Executive Council meeting in Aso Rock Villa. The new notes, in values of N200, N500, and N1,000, were unveiled by the President.
The Central Bank of Nigeria’s Governor, Godwin Emefiele, stated in October that the apex bank will issue redesigned naira notes by December 15, 2022. He also indicated that the old notes will cease to be legal tender on January 31, 2023.
Emefiele stated that redesigning naira notes will assist to minimize counterfeit notes and ransom payments to terrorists and kidnappers.
The governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria expressed worry that Nigerians were hoarding 85 percent of the total money in circulation.
As a result, he added that upgrading the local currency will help to mop up the money outside the banking sector, adding that close to N2.75tn of the around N3.3tn in circulation were outside the banking sector.
A top bank executive said, “Most of the banks have started reconfiguring their ATMs so that they can identify the new notes of N1000, N500 and N200.,”’
Meanwhile, CBN results indicate that the overall amount to be put into circulation may be less than the amount already in circulation.
According to a top CBN official who spoke on the condition of anonymity, the CBN intends to encourage electronic payments rather than cash transactions. According to him, the CBN would not produce a big number of fresh notes.
He said, “The CBN has been disbursing the new naira notes to the banks but does not intend to disburse large quantities because it wants to boost electronic payments.
“Don’t expect that there will be a large circulation of the new notes in the economy. There are different electronic channels that people should be using.”
