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Nigeria’s Central Bank Threatens To Sanction Commercial Banks Rejecting Old, Small Dollar Denominations

Nigeria’s Central Bank Threatens To Sanction Commercial Banks Rejecting Old, Small Dollar Denominations
July 2, 2024

The threat was contained in a circular issued by the Acting Director of Currency Operations Department of CBN, with reference: COD/DIR/INT/CIR/001/017, saying the persistent rejection of the old dollars notes by the DMBs contributed to American currency scarcity in the country. 

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Tuesday issued a threat to sanction Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) for refusing to accept old and small denominations of the United States' dollars.

 

The threat was contained in a circular issued by the Acting Director of Currency Operations Department of CBN, with reference: COD/DIR/INT/CIR/001/017, saying the persistent rejection of the old dollars notes by the DMBs contributed to American currency scarcity in the country. 

 

Meanwhile, SaharaReporters had earlier reported how a controversial naira swap policy introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), under the leadership of then-Governor Godwin Emefiele failed. 

 

Over one year later, a check by SaharaReporters showed that the CBN policy which was reported to have gulped over N74 billion has failed.

 

Already, there are lamentations by the Point-of-sale machine vendors that they are short on cash.

Checks showed that in January 2024, the currency in circulation stood at 3.65 million while the currency outside of banks stood at 3.28 million, representing 89%. 

 

In February, the currency in circulation stood at 3.69 million naira notes, while the currency outside the bank stood at 3.41 million notes representing 92%. 

Topics
Economy