By NewsBits
Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Mr Godwin Emefiele has said that Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari will on Wednesday (today) unveil the newly redesigned N1,000, N500 and N200 notes.
Emefiele made the disclosure on Tuesday as the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) also increased the monetary policy rate (interest rate) to 16.5% from 15.5%, the fourth straight hike this year. However, the governor stated that all other parameters remained unchanged.
In his presentation of the 145th communique, after the MPC meeting in Abuja, the CBN boss insisted that the CBN won’t extend the deadline for all old notes to be returned to commercial banks in exchange for newly designed ones.
He said, “We are no longer waiting for December 15 to unveil the new note, the president has accepted to unveil the new currency on November 23, 2022,” adding 100 days is enough for any person from any part of Nigeria to deposit his money in the bank and get his money when the new notes are released.
“For your information, indeed, we are no longer waiting till December 15th to unveil and begin to release the new notes. By the special grace of God, by 23rd of November 2022, the President has graciously accepted to unveil the new currencies and the new currencies will be unveiled tomorrow at the Federal Executive Chamber by 10am.”
Emefiele announced that the committee raised the monetary policy rate to 16.5% from 15.5%, retained the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) at 32.5 percent, and voted to retain the asymmetric corridor at +100 and -700 basis points around the MPR. Similarly, the liquidity ratio was retained at 30 per cent.
Cash reserves ratio is the share of a bank’s total customer deposit that must be kept with the central bank in the form of liquid cash, while bank’s liquidity ratio is the proportion of deposits and other assets, they must maintain to be able to meet short-term obligations
The CBN Governor explained that the decision of the MPC, was in consideration of the persistent rise in inflation rate and fragile growth. Nigeria’s headline inflation rose to the highest level in 17 years to 21.09 percent in October 2022, from 20.77 percent in the prior month.
“To all Central banks inflation is a very big challenge, the Russia-Ukraine war is still ongoing, the US is still raising rates and financial market conditions globally have tightened,” Emefiele said.
The CBN boss had on October 26, 2022, announced the apex regulator will issue redesigned N200, N500, and N1,000 notes, effective December 15, 2022. He also stated that the new and existing currencies will remain legal tender and circulate together until January 31, 2023.
