Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), said currency in circulation (CIC) in the country rose to N1.68 trillion at the end of March 2023.
This was even as it stated that its special intervention reserves currently stands at N419 billion.
Currency-in-circulation is defined as amount of money outside the vaults of the central bank; that is, all legal tender currency in the hands of the public and in the vaults of the Deposit Money Banks (DMBs). The currency in circulation in the country had dipped by a 235.03 per cent to N982.09 billion at the end of February from N3.29 trillion recorded at the end of October 2022, on the back of the naira redesign policy.
However, data obtained from the CBN’s website revealed that the CIC grew by 71 per cent in one month to stand at N1.68 trillion as against N982.09 billion recorded in the previous month.
According to the apex bank, it employed the “accounting/statistical/withdrawals and deposits approach” to compute the currency in circulation in Nigeria.
This approach involved tracking the movements of currency in circulation on a transaction-by-transaction basis.
It said for every withdrawal made by a commercial bank at one of CBN’s branches, an increase in the CIC was recorded, and for every deposit made by a bank, at one of CBN’s branches, a decrease in the CIC was recorded.
