CBN Says Naira Notes Scarcity Is Artificial, Blames It on Hoarding by Individuals
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said the ongoing scarcity of the naira notes across the country, is artificial.
The Apex Bank says there are more than enough naira notes in circulation.
According to the bank, the money in circulation has gone up from N1 trillion last February to N3.4 trillion as at December 11.
It blames the naira notes shortage largely on hoarding by some individuals, who are afraid of being subjected to another round of hardships, experienced during the recent naira redesign project.
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Acting spokesperson, Mrs. Hakama Sidi-Alli, said CBN was monitoring the situation, and had released sufficient cash to its branches nationwide for release to banks.
The CBN sought the Supreme Court judgement to extend usage of the old and the new Naira notes indefinitely, which was granted.
However, the new CBN management team has not printed new notes because of their policy of managing liquidity in the system and ensuring that money in circulation does not exceed their threshold.
To prevent the recurrence of what happened between December 2022 and January 2024, some individuals have resorted to hoarding cash instead of returning it to the banks for effective distribution, which is the major cause of the scarcity.
Some still believe the old one will be withdrawn from circulation this month.
The CBN needs to intensify their communication network and assure Nigerians that there is no reason to hoard Naira notes, he stated.
Recall that from December 2022 to February 2023, the Naira redesign policy by the CBN resulted in a cash crunch until the Supreme Court extended the deadline to 31st December, 2023, and later vacated the extension deadline following a request by the federal government.
