By Tony Obiechina

The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele has announced that currency in circulation has more than doubled since 2015, rising from N1.46 trillion in December, 2015 to N3.23 trillion as at end of September, 2022.

Emefiele stated this in Abuja on Wednesday while disclosing plans by the Apex bank to reintroduce redesigned N200, N500 and N1,000 notes respectively

Justifying the need to redesign the local currency, Emefiele said there was significant hoarding of Naira by the public with 85 percent of currency in circulation outside the vaults of the commercial banks.

The CBN governor said the redesigned currency notes will be in circulation with effect from December 2022, in an effort to shore up the depreciating value of the naira.

The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, who announced this at a press conference in Abuja on Wednesday, said President Muhammadu Buhari has already approved the redesigning of the Naira

The Governor said CBN statistics showed that as at end of September, 2022, N12.73 trillion out of N3.4 trillion currency in circulation was outside the vaults of the commercial banks held by the members of the public.

He said that the standard practice is to redesign currency every 5-8 years but the nation’s existing currencies had not been redesigned in the last 20 years.

Emefiele said that the redesigning of the Naira will curb incidences of kidnapping and Ransome payments, deepen cashless economy and boast the integration of the eNaira into the banking systems.