Banks Supplying Nigerians With Only 20% Of Currency Demand, Says CPPE Boss

The Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE) has revealed that Deposit Money Banks (DBM) are receiving barely 20 per cent of the supply of currency.

The CPPE BOSS Muda Yusuf in an interview with THE WHISTLER disclosed that the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Godwin Emefiele is “deliberately sabotaging,” the order of the supreme court, which has made life difficult for Nigerians.

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Recall that the Supreme Court had earlier ordered that old N200, N500, and N1,000 remains legal tender and in circulation till December 31, 2023.

However, Yusuf said Emefiele was reluctant to obey the Supreme Court, despite the grieving effect of the naira scarcity which is a result of the naira redesign policy/ swap.

The CPPE boss said If the CBN complies with the supreme court order, the country will see improvement.

He said, “What the bank is telling us is that they are not getting an adequate supply of the currency note. Most of them are getting 20 per cent of their need.

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“My suspicion is that Emefiele is not releasing enough amount of money. CBN can claim now that he has complied with the supreme court, he has announced although reluctantly that both the old and new notes should be in circulation.

“But, maybe he has deliberately reduced the amount of the old note in circulation because he only complied reluctantly. He is releasing the cash to sabotage whatever the supreme court order is saying.”

Yusuf further said that before the naira redesign/swap policy, the country was yet to meet the standard ratio of cash in circulation.

He said this however was a deficit in the country’s economic strength in terms of cash supply.

He stressed that mopping out all the cash in the system, will not make the system work effectively, noting that it is not possible even in the advanced economy.

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Yusuf said, “There are ratios used to measure the adequate supply of cash in the economy even in the western world, and before Emefiele started mopping up the cash, Nigeria could not meet the standard ratio.”

“Our economy is checked at the standard of over 200 trillion in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) against the 2.6 trillion cash supply. Compared to the United State of America (USA) and the United Kingdom (UK). We are running at a low,” he noted.

Yusuf also said that the agriculture sector contributed at least 40 per cent (N8 trillion) of the N20 trillion loss, citing that there is no alternative to control the shock on the economy if the CBN does not take the necessary step.

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