By our Reporter
The Central Bank of Nigeria,(CBN) had on October 26 announced its plan to redesign 200, 500 and 1000 naira notes. It gave December 15, 2022 as the date to start circulating the new notes.
The unveiling of the new notes will precede the weekly cabinet meeting at the State House in Abuja.
The central bank said it would redesign naira notes to have control of the amount of currency in circulation, and to enable it manage inflation and tackle counterfeiting.
“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,” CBN governor Godwin Emefiele noted.
“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.”
