Buhari to unveil new naira notes Wednesday

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has revealed the new naira will be unveiled by President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday, November 23.

Godwin Emefiele, the CBN Governor made this announcement during the presentation of the 145th communique, following the two days meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC).

He added that over time the circulation of N500 and N1000 notes will reduce as he said its availability in large volumes is partly responsible for the inflationary pressure.

Speaking on the possible extension of the deadline on the naira redesign, he said the deadline will not be shifted.

“We are no longer waiting for December 15 to unveil the new note, the president has accepted to unveil the new currency on November 23 2022,” he said.

He also revealed that the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) has been increased to 16.5 percent from 15.5 percent, which is the fourth straight hike this year.

This was in consideration of the persistent rise in inflation rate and fragile growth. Nigeria’s headline inflation accelerated to the highest level in 17 years to 21.09 percent in October 2022, from 20.77 percent in the previous month.

“To all Central banks inflation is a very big challenge, the Russia-Ukraine war is still ongoing, the US is still raising rates and financial market conditions globally have tightened,” he said.

Emefiele however expressed optimism that the decisions taken by the committee in May July and September are yielding results and hopes that this trend will be sustained and see inflation coming down.