Tumininu adeleye
According to data from the Central Bank of Nigeria, the amount of Nigerian currency in circulation fell from N2.6 trillion at the end of June 2023 to N2.59 trillion at the end of July 2023, the first decline since February 2023 and a loss of N7.51 billion in a single month.
All legal tender currency that is in use by the general public and not stored in a central bank dome is referred to as currency-in-circulation. The amount of money in circulation in Nigeria is calculated by the CBN using the “accounting/statistical/withdrawals and deposits approach” and keeping track of transactions individually.
All transactions are recorded in the CIC account at the CBN, which guarantees that the current balance accurately reflects the total amount of the country’s currency in circulation. At a CBN branch, each DMB withdrawal results in an increase in the CIC, and each deposit results in a decrease in the CIC.
Due to the CBN’s naira redesign policy, the total amount of currency in circulation in the nation decreased from N3.29 trillion at the end of October 2022 to N1.38 trillion at the end of January 2023. According to data gathered from the CBN, this reflects a decrease of N1.91 trillion over the past three months.
The CBN’s suspended governor, Godwin Emefiele, had announced plans to redesign the outdated N200, N500, and N1,000 notes in October 2022. He also gave Nigerians deadlines for exchanging their old notes for new ones. “Accordingly, all deposit money banks currently holding the existing denominations of currency may begin returning these notes back to the CBN with immediate effect,” the suspended governor said. The newly created currency will be distributed to the banks according to a first-come, first-served order. Bank customers were also urged to deposit the currency in their accounts to withdraw the new banknotes.
The speaker complained about the challenges associated with managing currency, such as the widely used public hoarding of banknotes and the fact that more than 80% of the currency in circulation is kept outside the safekeeping facilities of commercial banks.
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