The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has denied suggesting that the eNaira, the country’s Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) is a threat to financial stability.
The Director, of Corporate Communications of the CBN, Isa AbdulMunin, said this in a statement on Monday after a viral report emanating from the bank suggested that the apex bank questioned the role of the eNaira on financial stability.
The eNaira was launched by the former CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele in 2021 to entrench financial inclusion and also serve as an alternative for Nigerians to transact. As of December 2021, the CBN minted a total of N2bn in eNaira.
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However, the report syndicated by the CBN highlighting the impacts of the eNaira said that funds converted by customers into eNaira are held within wallets domiciled with the apex bank.
According to the report, this makes the funds unavailable for lending activities by commercial banks.
AbdulMunin said “After reviewing the reports, which appear to have been syndicated, there seems to be a lack of understanding of portions of the Foreword, and some articles, in the bank’s recently released Economics of Digital Currencies: A Book of Readings.
“Also concerns about Nigeria’s central bank digital currency, eNaira, indicating potential risks to financial stability despite its success in narrowing the country’s financial inclusion gap.
“The nexus implied is unconvincing. In the ordinary course of things, the CBN does not join issues on news commentary; however, we are constrained to clarify the reports to ensure that misunderstandings are not fostered.
“The eNaira structure continues to evolve and undergo modifications targeted at improving the user experience across all interfaces. We encourage Nigerians to embrace the technology for, amongst other things, greater financial inclusion.”
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