S/Court reversal: ‘Naira in circulation surges by 71% to N1.6trn’

Nigeria’s currency in circulation has jumped by N701.4 billion to N1.6 trillion at the end of March 2023 after the Supreme Court reversed the phase out of the old naira notes, data from the Central Bank of Nigeria has shown.

The figure shows a 71 per cent increase after the Central Bank of Nigeria reversed the Naira redesign policy in line with the directive by the supreme court of Nigeria.

Recall that currency in circulation in the country had dipped by 235.03% to N982.09bn at the end of February 2023 from N3.29trn at the end of October 2022, on the heels of the naira redesign policy of the CBN.

Figures obtained from the CBN showed that N2.3trn was mopped up from circulation during the period under review.

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Governor of the CBN, Godwin Emefiele, had in October 2022, announced plans to redesign the old N200, N500 and N1,000 notes.

The governor had pointed the challenges associated with currency management, including the hoarding of banknotes by members of the public, with statistics showing that over 80 per cent of currency-in-circulation was outside the vaults of commercial banks.

Due to hardship the policy subjected Nigerians to among others, some state governments sued the Federal Government over the naira redesign policy.

Subsequently, the Supreme Court in its ruling on March 3 extended the legal tender status of the old N200, N500, and N1,000 notes to December 31 this year.