Flood of cash, drought of growth: The consequences of unbalanced money supply

Nigeria is learning the hard way that when money supply is not able to match economic growth, there are consequences. Nigeria experienced a dramatic increase in money supply through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) between 2015 and 2023. According to Olayemi Cardoso, the CBN Governor, the money supply stood at N19 trillion in 2015 and skyrocketed to N54 trillion in 2023. While this represented an annual growth rate of 12 percent, the Nigerian economy only grew at an average of 1.9 percent during the same period. This disparity between