This call is coming barely an hour after the Supreme Court gave a restraining order to stop the Nigerian Government and Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN) from enforcing the deadline.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has asked the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Nigerian government and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to extend the February 10 deadline for the circulation of the old naira notes.
This call is coming barely an hour after the Supreme Court gave a restraining order to stop the Nigerian Government and Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN) from enforcing the deadline.
The IMF, in a statement in Abuja on Wednesday by Laraba Bonet, hinged its plea on the hardship Nigerians were going through.
It said: “in light of hardships caused by disruptions to trade and payments due to the shortage of new bank notes available to the public, in spite of measures introduced by the CBN to mitigate the challenges in the banknote swap process, the IMF encourages the CBN to consider extending the deadline should problems persist in the next few days leading up to the February 10, 2023 deadline”.
The IMF is the first international financial organisation to openly call for extension of the deadline for the deposit of old Naira notes.
Nigerians have been having difficulty obtaining the new naira notes as the February 10 deadline approaches.
This was why some banks in the state have been attacked, and protests in states such as Edo and Oyo have devolved into riots.
