Research Document: Naira Redesign Policy: Caught In The Web

Posted Fri, Feb 17, 2023 10:40 AM

The Nigerian economy faced complex challenges in 2022. One of the most significant of these challenges is the prolonged fuel scarcity, which appears to be slowing down economic activity, increasing inflationary pressure, eroding the purchasing power of the Naira, and pushing more Nigerians into poverty.

While ordinary Nigerians and many businesses were devising strategies to mitigate the effects of fuel scarcity and rising inflation, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) announced plans to redesign the country's currency, specifically the higher denominations, on October 26th, 2022. The announcement came with a tight deadline of January 31st, 2023, to phase out the old N200, N500 and N1,000 notes - which account for 95.6 percent of the total value of the currency in circulation.

The decision by the CBN to redesign some Naira denominations is not unprecedented in Nigeria, given the history of currency redesigns as obtained in 2007 and 2009 with the lower denomination banknotes. 

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