To help Nigeria's recovering economy, CBN moves to flood market with lower naira notes

macfranc007 February 28, 2018 Nigeria News today & Breaking news ▷ Read Nigerian newspapers 24/7 Nnenna Ibeh

- The Central of Nigeria has promised to release lower denomination notes in the Nigerian market

- The apex bank said the move will help end the shortage of N100, N50, N20, N10 and N5 notes

- CBN also warned against hoarding of the lower notes for profit purposes by Nigerians

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Tuesday, February 27, promised to flood the Nigerian market with lower denomination of naira notes.

The apex bank said the move is an effort to address the acute shortage of lower denomination of the currencies in the market.

The CBN director currency operations, Priscilla Eleje, said the apex bank is unhappy over the short supply of N100, N50, N20, N10 and N5 notes.

Eleje during a sensitisation programme in Wuse Market said CBN is mindful of the development and had decided to address the challenge, starting with traders.

The bank however warned those hoarding the notes for the purpose of profiting from their resale to stop the idea as they risked prosecution when caught.

“We spend money to print money every year. But we don’t see the money in the market. So, we called the market unions and banks to a meeting in our office on how to resolve that. We are here to inform you that we have started giving money to you traders via your association and the banks," Eleje said.

We will monitor the disbursements and spending. No more sales of lower denomination currencies at Dei Dei (a suburb in Abuja popular for the sale of new naira notes). The Police are on the lookout and will arrest and prosecute offenders. We will give the money to the association via the commercial banks.

All you need to do is to take your higher denomination currencies to your association and exchange with lower denomination currency equivalents.

It’s not like the money is free. It’s just an exchange and we want it to be available to you people to do your business with ease. So, please let us know if you can’t access it. We want to ensure you trade seamlessly," she noted.

NAIJ.com earlier reported that the Nigerian Senate had ordered its committee on banking, insurance and other financial institutions to probe the scarcity of lower currency denominations in the market.

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The Senate said the N100, N50, N20, N10 and N5 notes are crucial to the growth of Nigeria's economy which is recovering from recession.

The motion which led to the resolve was raised by Senator Peter Nwaobosi who said most commercial banks no longer circulate the lower denominations because the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has stopped supplying them.

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