Naira crisis: CBN releases old notes to commercial banks

The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, is set to release all N1,000, N500 and N200 notes in its custody to Deposit Money Banks.

A source at the CBN disclosed this to the News Men on Wednesday.

According to him, the apex bank has concluded plans to disburse old notes to Deposit Money Banks across the country starting from Thursday (today).

He added that the development would end the two-month-long Naira scarcity in Nigeria.

This comes on the heels of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, planned nationwide strike and protests in CBN offices following the hardship created by the bank’s naira redesign policy.

The CBN’s latest decision came several weeks after the Supreme Court ordered that old N1,000, N500 and N200 notes should remain legal tender until December 31, 2023.

Economic expert, a lecturer at Lead City University, Ibadan, Prof Godwin Oyedokun, has said that the CBN is willing to release cash to commercial banks after the general elections.

He explained that since the polls were over, the CBN would begin the disbursement of the new and old notes.

News Men reported that the CBN mopped up N2.3 trillion at the end of February from N3.9 trillion currency in circulation in October last year.