CBN says it detected counterfeit worth N98.82m in 2018, spends N64bn printing notes

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in its 2018 annual report for currency operation, released on Tuesday, said it detected a total of 119,663 counterfeit notes worth N98.82 million in 2018. The amount is 5.77% higher than N93.43 million discovered in 2017 in terms of value.

The CBN says it was able to detect the notes in collaboration with Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) and the Bankers Warehouse Plc.

According to the report, N500 and N1,000 notes were the most counterfeited, accounting for 65.29% and 34.49% respectively of the total counterfeit notes discovered.

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The report also stated that Nigeria spent N64 billion printing various naira notes of 2.7 million pieces. This is N14.5 billion higher than 2017’s N49.5 billion.

The report showed that N3.5 trillion was distributed among CBN branches in 2018.

$2.4 billion was procured in 2018, out of which $1.8 billion was supplied to CBN Lagos branch and the balance of $600 million was supplied to Abuja branch for further distribution to other branches.

The dollars procured were used to fund operations of Bureaux De Change (BDCs), payment of estacode allowances to Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), pilgrimages and personal travel allowances (PTAs).

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