The N200, N500, and N1,000 old naira notes are gradually being phased out in favour of the newly designed ones, according to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
This was announced by the CBN's acting governor, Folashodun Shonubi, on Tuesday following the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting in Abuja.
The Monetary Policy Rate (MPR), which measures interest rates, was also raised by the CBN from 18.5 to 18.75%.
Fielding questions from reporters, Shonubi said, “When a currency is printed and sent out, it is expected that it will go through several cycles, and then over time, will become one and then be replaced. That’s what we’re doing.
“We had to put out or re-put out old notes. And as they’re coming in, they’re being processed and returned to us as not issuable. We are then bringing out and replacing them with the new notes.”
Shonubi said there is an “optimal level of currency” in circulation and what is being done at the moment is replacing worn-out notes with new ones.
“We believe that we have an optimal level of the currency out there and so much of what’s being done is a replacement to keep the level, rather than just putting money out there,” he said.
“And that is seen by the fact that the banks, whenever they come to us for notes, we provide it to them. If it wasn’t enough, they will be asking us for more. If it was too much, they’ll be dumping that much more on us.
“So, we will slowly, and over time you will see the old notes replaced out of the system with the new notes that’ll be the norm.
“And that will be out of practice, not fanfare, you’ll just see it slowly move from old to new.”
