Connect with us

VenturesNow

Nigeria’s apex bank, CBN, wants to redesign currencies to fight inflation. Smart move?

Published

on

The governor of Nigeria’s Central Bank, Godwin Emefiele on Wednesday announced plans to introduce new designs of the N200, N500, and N1,000 notes by December 15.

Nigeria’s apex bank says the policy is an attempt to bring currency from outside the banking system into the banking system, thereby making monetary policy more effective in combating inflation.

The inflation rate in Nigeria continued on an upward trend as it surged to 20.77% in September 2022, up from 20.52% recorded in August while the Consumer Price Index rose by 20.77% year-on-year in September 2022.

Mr. Emiefele while speaking on the policy revealed that “Statistics show that 85% of the currency in circulation are outside the volts of our commercial banks. Data indicates that N2.73 trillion out of the N3.23 trillion currency in circulation was outside the volts of commercial banks across the country.

“In recent years, the CBN has recorded significantly higher rates of counterfeiting, especially at the high demonization of N500 and N100 bank notes.” He added.

Emefiele also explained that the redesign of the currency is long overdue. According to him, “our existing series of banknotes -the naira, has not been re-designed in the last 20 years. The bank reasonably determined to achieve the objective of its mandate as enshrined in Section 2B of the CBN act of 2007 to ensure a strong and effective legal tender.

“It is therefore no longer tenable to continue with business as usual especially given the continually evolving circumstances that could impede the optimal performance of our naira. Furthermore, we believe that the re-design of the currency will help deepen our drive to entrench a cashless economy, and a christ minting of our E-Naira will complement it.”

He also argued that government would generate revenue from the process as  Nigerians wanting to deposit more than N150, 000 cash must pay a deposit fee.

The CBN also hopes that redesigning of the naira would to a certain extent help manage terrorist activities with the belief that the process of ransom payments to terrorists and kidnappers would become knotty.

Kidnapping for ransom is on the rise in Nigeria, a report by Lagos-based security and political risk research firm has shown says about N653.7 million was paid as ransom in Nigeria between July 2021 and June 2022.

VenturesNow

No plan to increase taxes, Nigeria’s revenue chief says

Published

on

The head of Nigeria’s revenue agency, Zacch Adedeji, has reaffirmed that there is no plan for the introduction of new taxes in the country.

Adedeji, who is the Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue, made the position known when the Chief Executive Officer of Guinness Nigeria Plc, Adebayo Alli, led the management team of the company on a visit to the Revenue House in Abuja.

He was quoted as saying, “the President gave a directive that he wants a single digit tax in the country, meaning that the maximum number of taxes we will have after the work of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms will be nine taxes,” in a statement signed by the Special Adviser on Media to the FIRS chairman, Dare Adekanmbi.

“For us at FIRS, we have responded to that directive. We want to grow the pie such that even if we are taking the same percentage of the bigger pie, the result will be huge.

“By God’s grace, we will not introduce additional taxes nor increase any form of tax. We are only determined to increase the pie. We have restructured our operations at FIRS in such a way that we are now effectively carrying out our duty of assessing, collecting and accounting for taxes. We used to have functional types of taxes, but we have identified that the only customers we have are the taxpayers.”

He stated that by restructuring “our operations based on our customers, using their turnover as the basis to categorise them into large, medium, and small,” FIRS has enhanced its customer relations. He continued by saying that President Bola Tinubu wanted to increase Nigerians’ purchasing power in order to promote growth and increase businesses’ capacity for productivity through the recently implemented consumer credit scheme.

The Nigerian government has been working to overhaul the nation’s monetary and fiscal policies since the start of the Bola Tinubu administration. This has resulted in the central bank and the Oyedele-led tax advisory council implementing daring new policies.

Continue Reading

VenturesNow

Nigeria’s central bank raises interest rate to 24.75% amid soaring inflation

Published

on

Governor Olayemi Cardoso of Nigeria’s central bank has announced that the bank has increased its monetary policy rate by 200 basis points, to 24.75% from 22.75%, as part of its ongoing tightening measures to combat skyrocketing inflation.

This comes after the bank boosted rates by 4 percentage points last month in an attempt to contain pricing pressures, marking the highest rate hike in almost 17 years.

The committee did not convene under Cardoso’s leadership until February, thus this decision was only the second since he entered office in September of last year.

In the aftermath of the removal of subsidies on petrol products in May last year, Nigeria’s economy is experiencing a cost of living crisis that has left millions of people struggling to satisfy their basic requirements. Annual inflation is above 30%, the worst level in nearly three decades.

At a press conference, Cardoso stated that while members of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) were still certain that the tightening cycle was necessary to control inflation, they also believed that price pressures had started to ease as of May.

“Considerations of the committee at this meeting focused on the current inflationary pressures and the need to anchor inflation expectations as well as ensure sustained exchange rate stability,” he said.

The value of the naira appreciated by 12% by the end of last week’s trading activities, and has been on the rise so far this week also, exchanging lower than 1,400 per $ on Tuesday.

Recent measures like the removal of subsidies and the double depreciation of the naira have been defended by the government as necessary to boost economic growth and draw in investment, but they have incited public ire and, in some cases, desperation.

More tightening is anticipated in the upcoming two MPC meetings, according to David Omojomolo, Africa economist at Capital Economics, before policymakers back off and maintain stable interest rates.

“We expect Governor Cardoso’s desire to bring the inflation crisis to a close and also strengthen the naira will lead to more tightening,” said Omojomolo.

Following the increase, Nigeria’s sovereign foreign dollar bonds saw an increase. Tradeweb data shows that the 2029 note saw the biggest jump, rising 1.4 cents against the dollar to 97.9 cents at 1344 GMT, its highest level in over two years.

Continue Reading

EDITOR’S PICK

VenturesNow3 hours ago

No plan to increase taxes, Nigeria’s revenue chief says

The head of Nigeria’s revenue agency, Zacch Adedeji, has reaffirmed that there is no plan for the introduction of new...

Metro3 hours ago

Tinubu vows justice for slain soldiers, bestows national honours on them during burial

President Bola Tinubu has once again reiterated that killers of 17 soldiers of the Nigerian Army in Delta State on...

VenturesNow17 hours ago

Nigeria’s central bank raises interest rate to 24.75% amid soaring inflation

Governor Olayemi Cardoso of Nigeria’s central bank has announced that the bank has increased its monetary policy rate by 200...

VenturesNow20 hours ago

China, Zambia’s major creditor, cooperating on debt rework— Official

A spokesperson of Zambia’s foreign ministry has stated that one of its major creditors, China, has remained supportive of Zambia’s...

Sports20 hours ago

Tragedy as coach killed, players injured in Sierra Leone club bus crash

One of the coaches of Sierra Leonean club, Port Authority FC, Lamine Bangoura, a former international, has been confirmed killed...

Tech20 hours ago

Radisson Group targets 25 hotels in Morocco by 2030

The Radisson Hotel Group says it has set a goal of setting up 25 hotels in Morocco, which will expand...

Culture20 hours ago

Moroccans celebrate ‘special towncrier’ who works only during Ramadan

Moroccans have continued to celebrate a “special towncrier” otherwise known as “Nafar”, who works only during the Ramadan period. The...

Metro22 hours ago

Nigeria to begin seasonal reviews of oil firm’s plans on gas flaring

Nigeria’s Minister of State for Environment, Dr Iziaq Salako, has revealed that the government intends to begin seasonal reviews of...

Metro1 day ago

US earmarks $10m concessional loan to Zambian enterprises

About 260 Small and Medium Scale enterprises in Zambia will benefit from $10 million concessional loans by the United States...

Strictly Personal1 day ago

Road deaths are symbolic of our national failure, By Tee Ngugi

“Killer roads claim 25 lives,” screamed the headline of the Daily Nation on March 18. Among this number were 11...

Trending