The Central Bank of Nigeria is set to launch new designs to replace high-value naira notes from December 15, 2022.
The bank said it is doing this to have control of the currency in circulation, manage inflation, as well as tackle counterfeiting.
The plan is to redesign N100, N200, N500, and N1000 and start disbursing by December , then by January 31,2023, the old notes are expected to be out of the.
While addressing journalists on Wednesday, the governor, Godwin Emefiele, said currency management has faced several daunting challenges that have continued to escalate in scale and sophistication with attendant and unintended consequences for the integrity of both the CBN and the country.
“These challenges primarily include: Significant hoarding of banknotes by members of the public, with statistics showing that over 85 percent of currency in circulation are outside the vaults of commercial banks,” he said.
“To be more specific, as at the end of September 2022, available data at the CBN indicate that N2.73 Trillion out of the N3.23 trillion currency in circulation, was outside the vaults of Commercial Banks across the country; and supposedly held by the public.”
“Evidently, currency in circulation has more than doubled since 2015; rising from N1.46 trillion in December 2015 to N3.23 trillion in September 2022. This is a worrisome trend that cannot be allowed to continue.”
He said the bank believes this increase has a positive impact on inflation, which hit a 17-year high in September.
Credit: premiumtimesng.com
