CBN official says new Naira notes will promote financial inclusion, check corruption

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said on Wednesday that the newly redesigned Naira notes would promote financial inclusion and check corruption in the country.

The CBN Acting Branch Controller in Ondo State, Giwa Ademola, who stated this during a sensitization campaign on the new notes at the Oja Oba Market in Akure, Ondo State, said the new notes would also check inflation.

He, however, urged Nigerians to deposit their old N100, N200, N500, and N1000 notes with banks ahead of the January 31 deadline for the withdrawal of the notes.

Ademola said: “The benefits of the currency redesign to the Nigerian economy are enormous given that this policy will help to control inflation. The exercise will also bring hoarded currency into the banking system, thereby making monetary policy more effective.

“It will also help with better design and implementation of monetary policy as we will have much more accurate data on money supply and monetary aggregates.

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“Statistics revealed that N2.72 trillion out of the $3.26 trillion currency in circulation as of June 2022 was outside the vaults of commercial banks across the country, and supposedly held by members of the public. This statistic showed that 84.71 percent of currency notes in circulation are outside the vaults of commercial banks, with only 15.29 percent in the CBN and commercial banks’ vaults.

“We believe that this exercise will help in increasing financial inclusion, moving towards a more cashless economy, and ensuring greater formalisation of the Nigerian economy.”

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