Currency in circulation drops to N2.79tn - CBN

The currency in circulation dropped slightly from N2.79tn as of the end of April to N2.79tn in May, the latest figures from the Central Bank of Nigeria showed on Thursday.

According to the CBN, the currency in circulation, which stood at N2.83tn as of January, fell to N2.807tn at the end of March.The CBN defined the currency in circulation as currency outside the vaults of the central bank, that is, all legal tender currency in the hands of the general public and in the vaults of the Deposit Money Banks.

The CBN stated that it employed the ‘accounting/statistical/withdrawals and deposits approach’ to compute the currency in circulation in Nigeria.

This approach involved tracking the movements in currency in circulation on a transaction-by-transaction basis.It said for every withdrawal made by a DMB at one of CBN’s branches, an increase in CIC was recorded, adding that for every deposit made by a DMB at one of CBN’s branches, a decrease in CIC was recorded.

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According to the apex bank, analysis of the currency in circulation showed that a large and increasing proportion of the Nigerian currency outside the commercial banking system was held by the general public who hoard a lot of the new banknotes.