The Central Bank of Nigeria recorded about N2.907 trillion currency in circulation in the economy as at end-December 2020.
This was disclosed in the recently released Annual Report 2020 as compiled by the CBN’s Currency Operations Department.
The apex bank has been in pursuit of a less cash-driven economy. Recently, the CBN launched the eNaira and granted approval in principle (AIP) to telcos with the aim to promote a more cashless and financial inclusive economy.
What the CBN is saying
The report stated that “Currency-in-Circulation (CIC) increased by 19.06% from N2,441.67bn at end December, 2019 to N2,907.13bn at end-December 2020. The growth in CIC reflected the continued dominance of cash in the economy. Analysis of the CIC shows that a greater proportion was in higher denomination banknotes (N100, N200, N500 and N1000).”
It further explained that the higher denomination banknotes together accounted for 63.47% and 98.08% of the total CIC, in terms of volume and value, respectively. The volume of lower denomination banknotes (N5, N10, N20, N50), accounted for 28.43% of the total CIC and 1.92%, in terms of value as at end-December 2020.
On currency processed in 2020, the report said “a total of 173,585 boxes of banknotes valued at N980,758 million was processed, compared with 260,651 boxes of banknotes valued at N1,533,729m in 2019. This represents a decrease of 33.40% in the number of boxes or N552,971m in value of processed banknotes.”
On revenue from currency management, it said the sum of N6,499.91m was generated as income from penal charges on deposits of unsorted banknotes and charges for authentication of foreign currency deposits by DMBs in 2020.
