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Amid currency scarcity fears, Nigeria’s Central Bank insists old banknotes still legal tender

Published

6 months ago

November 9, 2023

As concerns grow over the supposed deadline to use Nigeria’s old Naira notes, the country’s central bank has assured that the old 200, 500, and 1,000 notes will remain legal tender.

It is not clear, however, how this assurance will play out given the December 31 extension granted by a court earlier in the year.

In a statement by the Director of Corporate Communications of the CBN, Isah Abdulmumin, on Wednesday in Abuja, the bank directed all its branches across the country to continue to issue different denominations of the old and redesigned banknotes in adequate quantities to deposit money banks, and stressed that every banknote that it had issued remained legal tender and should not be rejected by anyone.

The statement was titled, ‘All Banknotes Issued by the CBN Remain Legal Tender.’ Isah said the directive followed reports of scarcity of cash across some major cities in the country despite assurances by the CBN of sufficient cash stocks in all locations across the country.

The statement read, “Our attention has again been drawn to reports of a scarcity of cash across some major cities in the country, despite assurances of sufficient cash stocks in all locations across the country. There have also been reports of anxiety among some members of the public over the legality or otherwise of old Naira banknotes.

“For the avoidance of doubt, while reiterating that there are sufficient banknotes across the country for all normal economic activity, we wish to state unambiguously that every banknote issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria remains legal tender and should not be rejected by anyone, as stipulated in Section 20(5) of the CBN Act, 2007.

“Accordingly, branches of the CBN across the country have been directed to continue to issue different denominations of old and redesigned banknotes in adequate quantities to deposit money in banks for onward circulation to bank customers.

“Consequently, public members are advised to accept all CBN-issued banknotes currently in circulation and guard against panic withdrawals. We reaffirm that there is sufficient stock of currency notes to facilitate normal economic activities.”

In November 2022, the CBN introduced new designs of the N200, N500, and N1,000 notes in an attempt to bring currency from outside the banking system into the banking system, thereby making monetary policy more effective in combating inflation.

But the situation boomeranged with the shortage of cash, the alleged hoarding of the old notes, and the unavailability of the new ones.

It was believed that the redesigning of the country’s currency and the limited supply of the new notes were a deliberate plot by the then outgoing president Buhari to check “vote buying” and frustrate politicians planning to unfairly tilt the process to their favour.

Related Topics:Cash scarcity Central Bank of Nigeria Featured

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Nigeria wants managers for proposed $10 billion diaspora fund

Published

13 mins ago

April 28, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

A tender paper shows that Nigeria is looking for fund managers for a $10 billion diaspora fund to bring in dollars and foreign investment for the economy.

The fund wants to pool the billions of dollars that its people send back to the country every month so that they can be used for local investments in things like healthcare, education, and infrastructure.

The World Bank says that Nigeria got more than $20 billion in payments from people living outside of Nigeria last year.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade in Nigeria said in a public post that it was looking for “fund managers for the development and establishment of a multisectoral, multilateral private sector-led investment fund to form the $10 billion Nigeria Diaspora Fund.”

The tender paper said that the fund manager’s job is to plan and set up the fund’s legal, operational, financial, and administrative structures.

The investment is intended to last for three to five years, and then more money will be put in after that. The government said the fund would last for 10 years and could be used for an extra two years.

The trade ministry’s tender said that people who want to run the fund must have done business in Nigeria in the last five years and must have a track record of raising money and running big, profitable venture capital funds.

Anglo-American turned down BHP Group’s $39 billion takeover offer on Friday, saying it was way too low for the London-listed company and its future.

In a statement, Minister of Industry and Trade Doris Anite said that it was a “once-in-a-lifetime chance for our citizens in the diaspora to drive Nigeria’s economic growth.”

The naira is under pressure because of a lack of foreign currency because of lower crude oil exports. This has led companies and people to buy dollars on the black market.

Nigeria is going to issue migrant bonds later this year to bring in even more foreign currency.

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World Bank grants Malawi $57.6 million for food crisis

Published

20 hours ago

April 27, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

As a response to its food crisis, the World Bank said on Friday that it would give Malawi $57.6 million in “quick release” grants.

“This support comes in the context of the severe food crisis the country is suffering due to El Niño conditions in the wider southern Africa region,” the World Bank said in a statement.

“A series of intense disaster events over the last few years has left almost no time for the country to recover and has resulted in a severe erosion of food security at the national level.”

Malawi is one of the least developed countries in the world. It is ranked 170 out of 187 countries in the 2010 Human Development Index. Almost 16 million people live there, and 90% of them make less than $2 a day. That’s 53% of the total population.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) says that 46,000 children in Malawi are seriously malnourished. In 2023, UNICEF said that more than 500,000 Malawian children were at risk of not getting enough food.

Now, Malawi has a lot of programs in place to deal with things like poverty, and climate change, and to make the business and agriculture more diverse.