Naira Scarcity: Banks Give Updates On Old Notes Circulation, Others

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has reportedly commenced the disbursement of old naira notes to Deposit Money Banks across the country.

Naija News reports that this is coming as government authorities step up efforts to end the naira scarcity that has caused chaos in the nation.

Recall that the CBN had directed DMBs to pick old ₦1,000, N500 and N200 notes at its offices across the country for onward disbursements to customers.

According to The PUNCH, commercial banks on Thursday got the old naira notes from CBN offices across the country.

Multiple bank sources including CEOs and top executives confirmed that the apex bank released old notes to banks.

“I can confirm to you that we received old notes from the CBN today, we also received a memo from the central bank to this effect,” the CEO of a commercial bank told The PUNCH on condition of anonymity.

Also, a general manager at a tier-2 bank told one of our correspondents that the lender got some old notes from the central bank on Thursday.

“The CBN has started giving us old notes. However, it will take some time for the currency to circulate,” a top official of a mid-size bank confirmed on Thursday.

However, top bank officials said it would take about two weeks for the situation to normalize, adding that bank queues might not disappear until later next week.

The bank executive said: “The situation will not normalise immediately. The impact will begin to be felt on Friday. Overall, things should normalise between one and two weeks.”

Also, the National President, Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions, Mr Olusoji Oluwole, said, “Until recently, the volume of the old currency released to banks has been minimal. This coupled with panic withdrawal by customers, and the restriction of daily withdrawal limits by the CBN has caused continued rationing. However, with the announcement yesterday by the CBN to pump more cash into the system, we hope the pressure will ease by next week if the CBN keeps to this promise.”

The online publication disclosed that only a few banks began disbursements on Thursday. It was learnt that several bank branches got the funds from the CBN very late. As such, they could not begin the disbursement.

But the CBN has reportedly concluded plans to dispatch a team of officials to monitor compliance on the part of banks.