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Nigeria unveils new Naira designs. But how much can be achieved with the move?

Published

2 years ago

November 23, 2022

Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari has unveiled the new Naira notes of N200, N500 and N1,000 at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The unveiling comes months ahead of the initially announced date in December.

President Buhari launched the new notes before the weekly Federal Executive Council, FEC, meeting, presided over by President Buhari.

The governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Godwin Emefiele while addressing the media after the launch remarked that the introduction of new notes designs is in line with the global practice, and ideally, there should have been a redesigning and re-issueing between five and eight years.

According to him, “In the past, I have to confess that attempts by the CBN to redesign and reissue the naira notes have been resisted. It is only President Muhammadu Buhari that has the courage to do so.”

The CBN at the announcement of the redesigning of the new notes last month, mentioned that the policy was one tactically aimed to reduce the amount of cash outside bank system, and ultimately use as measure to control inflation which is currently at 17 years high at 21.09%.

But the news of the currency re-designing was not immediately positive on the Naira as the currency in sharp response to the policy fell in value in the exchange market to a record height. At the height of the fall, one US dollar exchange for about N900.

Meanwhile, the newly unveiled notes have been greeted with mixed reactions from Nigerians as many do not seems impressed with the designs according to feedbacks sampled on Twitter. Perhaps Nigerians would learn to embrace the new notes as time passes. After all, as it is said in Nigerian parlance, “who no like money”

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IMF mission concludes 4th loan program assessment in Egypt

Published

22 hours ago

November 22, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Following the completion of a recent visit to Egypt, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has announced that its mission had achieved significant strides in policy talks aimed at concluding the fourth review of the IMF loan program.

The review is the fourth in Egypt’s most recent 46-month IMF loan program, which was authorised in 2022 and increased to $8 billion this year following an economic crisis characterised by high inflation and chronic foreign exchange shortages. It may unleash more than $1.2 billion in financing.

Along with reaffirming its commitment to maintain a flexible exchange rate system, the IMF stated that Egypt “has implemented key reforms to preserve macroeconomic stability,” including the unification of the currency rate that facilitated imports.

Earlier on Wednesday, Egypt’s Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said Cairo has asked the IMF to modify the targets for the programme not only for this year, but for its full duration, he added without giving more details.

“Discussions will continue over the coming days to finalize agreement on the remaining policies and reforms that could support the completion of the fourth review,” the IMF added in its statement.

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Kenya seeks $750m from World Bank, obtains $200m from AfDB— Official

Published

3 days ago

November 20, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

The head of debt management for the finance ministry told Reuters that Kenya had obtained a $200 million loan from the African Development Bank (AfDB) and was negotiating a fresh $750 million loan with the World Bank.

After being forced to abandon proposed tax rises costing more than 346 billion shillings ($2.68 billion) in June due to fatal demonstrations, the East African nation’s administration, which has been grappling with significant debt, has been frantically seeking fresh funding.

The Finance Ministry’s public debt management office director general, Raphael Owino, told Reuters that the IMF’s October clearance of the seventh and eighth reviews, which opened the door for a $606 million loan tranche, had aided the ministry’s talks for more loans.

“The World Bank is coming on board, riding on the back of IMF receipts,” Owino said. “The AfDB is already on board.”

The discussions for more assistance, which came under the World Bank’s “Development Policy Operations” (DPO) with the government, were confirmed by a representative at the organization’s Kenya office.

“The amount of the current (loan) is yet to be determined. The amount will also depend on the implementation of the policy reforms agreed upon,” the spokesperson told Reuters, adding that past DPO loans averaged about $750 million.

In May, the World Bank approved the latest round of DPO loans, totalling $1.2 billion.

According to a statement made last month by Finance Minister John Mbadi, Kenya has set a foreign borrowing goal of 168 billion shillings for the fiscal year ending in June 2025.