New Naira Notes Scarcity: As quick fix, CBN considers printing abroad after Council of State stand ‘print more new or recirculate old’

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) may resort to the printing of the redesigned N1,000, N500, and N200 notes in foreign countries in the coming days to quickly checkmate the lingering scarcity of the redesigned naira notes in the country.

This move is not unconnected with the earlier admittance by the CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, to the Council of State meeting in Abuja on Friday that the FG agency Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Plc, the local company saddled with the responsibility of printing the new naira notes was having a capacity challenge resulting in the failure to print enough new naira notes to replace the old ones.

Recall the National Council of State meeting ended in Abuja on Friday with members throwing their weight behind the redesigned Naira policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria, but advised that the apex bank intensifies measures at making the new notes available or recirculate old Naira notes to ease the hardship of Nigerians occasioned by the policy.

The meeting, the first in 2023 is come on the heels of a twin crisis facing the economy: fuel scarcity and a cash crunch sparked by the naira redesign policy of the CBN just as the nation heads into a general election in 15 days.

The Council of State had advised the apex bank to either print more new naira notes or allow the old and new notes to existing concurrently until such time when the redesigned notes will be in adequate supply.

This comes amid mounting pressure on the apex bank to inject enough new naira notes into circulation to meet the demands of the citizens.

A former high-profile CBN official corroborated, “As it is now, the CBN may have little or no choice but to contract the printing of the new N1,000, N500, and N200 notes to foreign contractors in order to make the new notes go round the country quickly and save the nation the embarrassment caused by the current scarcity and its attendant consequences.”

According to a report by Saturday Punch, contracting the printing of the redesigned notes to foreign companies had become imperative amid reports that the, otherwise known as The Print, appeared to lack the capacity to meet the demand for the new notes.

These suggestions were proposed as a solution to ease the pressure on hapless Nigerians who have had to bear the brunt of the currency scarcity.

Saturday Punch quoted a top banker who confirmed that The Mint had only succeeded in printing N500bn worth of the new N1,000, N500 and N200 notes and might not have the capacity to go beyond that at the moment.

And continuing he said, “It is obvious that what has been printed is not enough. How can you withdraw about N2.1tn from circulation and only print N500bn to replace that?

“Is it not obvious that the NSPMC does not have the capacity to print more than N500bn? With the Mint’s current capacity, printing N2tn will take about a year. Even the N500bn printed has been hijacked by politicians, especially governors. You heard one governor saying one of his colleagues was able to withdraw N500m.

“What the CBN is doing is to give us only 10 per cent of the worth of the old notes we deposit with it. For instance, if a bank takes N1bn to the CBN branch office in its area of operation, it will be given N100m new notes to distribute to its branches nationwide and load onto its ATMs.”