VenturesNow

Nigeria’s apex court stops apex bank, CBN, from implementing deadline for old Naira notes

Published

2 years ago

February 8, 2023

Nigeria’s apex court, the Supreme Court has ordered a suspension of the deadline for the swapping of old to new Naira notes by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The Court ruled on Wednesday morning and issued an interim injunction restraining the Federal Government from suspending the acceptance of the old Naira notes on Friday, February 10, 2023, deadline.

Recall that on Monday, a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory issued a restraining order on President Muhammadu Buhari, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele, and 27 commercial banks from suspending the demonetisation policy of the federal government.

The latest ruling by the apex court nullifies the High court’s ruling issued on Monday after Kaduna, Zamfara, and Kogi State dragged the Federal Government to the Supreme Court over the scarcity of old and new Naira notes due to the (CBN) naira redesign policy.

Nigeria has been on a recent trend of monetary policy in a bid to rescue its struggling economy. Nigeria’s apex bank recently announced plans to introduce new designs of the N200, N500, and N1,000 notes this month.

The three states through their lawyer, AbdulHakeem Uthman Mustapha (SAN), urged the Supreme Court to grant them an interim injunction stopping the Federal Government either by itself or acting through the CBN, the commercial banks, or its agents from carrying out its plan of ending the timeframe within which the now older versions of the 200, 500 and 1000 denominations of the Naira may no longer be legal tender on February 10, 2023.

Mustapha argued that “unless this Honourable Court intervenes, the Government and people of Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara State will continue to go through a lot of hardship and would ultimately suffer great loss as a result of the insufficient and unreasonable time within which the Federal Government is embarking on the ongoing currency redesign policy.”

The case has been adjourned to Wednesday, February 15, 2023. The states are seeking a restraining order from the Supreme Court to compel the government and CBN from implementing the policy.

There have been calls and protests in some quarters for the extension of the deadline for the use of the old bank notes, including allegations by the ruling party presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu that the policy was targeted at him and aimed at sabotaging his election.

Related Topics:CBN Featured Naira Nigeria

Click to comment

VenturesNow

IMF mission concludes 4th loan program assessment in Egypt

Published

2 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.

VenturesNow

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

Published

2 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.