Abuja, Nigeria
CNN Enterprise
—
Nigerians have criticized the “redesigning” of the nation’s native forex proposed by its central financial institution to rein in counterfeiting and hoarding of enormous sums exterior the banking system.
President Muhammadu Buhari unveiled the redesigned 200-, 500-, and 1,000-naira notes on Wednesday, saying “the brand new Naira banknotes have been fortified with security measures that make them troublesome to counterfeit.”
The brand new notes look similar to these presently in circulation. The design of the highest-value 1,000-naira notice, which incorporates the nationwide coat-of-arms and the headquarters of the Central Financial institution of Nigeria, is basically unchanged. The one important distinction is the colour — it’s gone from a largely brown underprint to blue.
The Central Financial institution of Nigeria (CBN) says that the redesigned notes will exchange notes presently in circulation by Jan. 2023.
However many locals are usually not impressed, describing the supposedly redesigned banknotes as a mere shade revamp, given their similarities to the previous notes.
“Snapchat filter, waste of time and assets, so a complete CBN can’t make use of specialists to revamp the naira notes. This can be a revamp not a redesign,” one Nigerian tweeted.
“What a waste of time and assets … what’s the distinction?” one other questioned.
CNN has requested the CBN for remark.
Main economist Bismarck Rewane tells CNN that altering the forex’s look provides nothing to its worth and is insignificant in curbing counterfeiting.
The federal government says new security measures had been added to the brand new notes, however Rewane says the adjustments to the forex are usually not important sufficient to curb counterfeiting.
The worth of the Nigerian naira has been in a decline lately, falling to a report low on the black market the place it traded at practically 800 to the US greenback as of Friday.
“It doesn’t change something,” Rewane says of the redesigning of the naira. “It doesn’t enhance the worth,” he additionally says, including: “There was no redesign. The colour of the forex modified that’s all. The change isn’t important sufficient to cease counterfeiting.”
Nigeria’s 1000- and 500-naira denominations are probably the most counterfeited, in keeping with the CBN’s annual report final yr.
Information of redesigning the naira — first introduced final month — generated blended emotions amongst Nigerians, a few of whom questioned the price of printing new banknotes at a time the nation is grappling with dwindling oil revenues, its primary supply of earnings.
Central Financial institution Governor Godwin Emefiele expects the introduction of the brand new banknotes to assist management inflation, which just lately rose to its highest level in 17 years, and likewise struggle corruption.
These objectives, Rewane says, is probably not achieved.
“It’s only a change in shade. I can’t see the correlation between the colour of the forex and the specified objectives. If the purpose is to cut back inflation, it is not going to obtain that. [Changing the look of the currency] has no macroeconomic impression by any means,” he tells CNN.
On the unveiling of the brand new notes on Wednesday President Buhari stated it had been practically 20 years for the reason that nation did a serious redesign of its banknotes.
The Nigerian chief added that changing the present forex with the redesigned notes will assist to fight the hoarding of funds exterior of the banking system.
“It’s on this foundation that I gave my approval for the redesign of the 200, 500, and 1,000 banknotes,” he stated.
Outdated naira notes might be fully phased away by the top of January subsequent yr, the CBN says, as locals scramble to deposit their previous notes at industrial banks.
