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The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) may resort to printing of the redesigned N1,000, N500 and N200 notes in foreign countries in the coming days to quickly arrest the menace of currency scarcity in the country.
This comes amid mounting pressure on the apex bank to inject enough new naira notes into circulation to meet the demands of the citizens.
According to a report by Saturday Punch, contracting the printing of the redesigned notes to foreign companies had become imperative amid reports that the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Plc, otherwise known as The Print, appeared to lack the capacity to meet the demand for the new notes.
Pulse had earlier reported that CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, told the Council of State meeting in Abuja on Friday, February 10, 2023, that The Mint suffered capacity constraints, resulting in the failure to print enough new naira notes to replace the old ones.
Recall that the Council of State had advised the apex bank to either print more new naira notes or allow the old and new notes to exist concurrently until such time as redesigned notes will be in adequate supply.
These measures were proposed as the solution to ease the pressure on hapless Nigerians who have had to bear the brunt of the currency scarcity.
Saturday Punch quoted a top banker who confirmed that The Mint had only succeeded in printing N500bn worth of the new N1,000, N500 and N200 notes and might not have the capacity to go beyond that at the moment.
The banker, who craved anonymity said, “It is obvious that what has been printed is not enough. How can you withdraw about N2.1tn from circulation and only print N500bn to replace that?
“Is it not obvious that the NSPMC does not have the capacity to print more than N500bn? With the Mint’s current capacity, to print N2tn will take about a year. Even the N500bn printed has been hijacked by politicians, especially governors. You heard one governor saying one of his colleagues was able to withdraw N500m.
“What the CBN is doing is to give us only 10 per cent of the worth of the old notes we deposit with it. For instance, if a bank takes N1bn to the CBN branch office in its area of operation, it will be given N100m new notes to distribute to its branches nationwide and load onto its ATMs.”
Corroborating the banker, a former top CBN official told the publication that indeed, The Mint might have been constrained by lack of capacity to print more notes which could be the reason for the scarcity of the notes.
The ex-CBN official said: “I think it is a matter of capacity on the part of the Mint. The NSPMC has been solely responsible for the printing of the local currency and its role wasn’t an issue before now because it periodically printed notes, which the CBN released into the system along with those already in circulation. Only mutilated notes were withdrawn by the apex bank and destroyed.
“As it is now, the CBN may have little or no choice but to contract the printing of the new N1,000, N500 and N200 notes to foreign contractors in order to make the new notes go round the country quickly and save the nation the embarrassment caused by the current scarcity and its attendant consequences.”