Three days after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) declared old N1,000, N500, and N200 notes legal money, Nigerians are still struggling with cash shortages.
Commercial banks have begun to disburse outdated currencies in their branches in response to the apex bank’s directive.
Yet, as a result of the CBN’s directive requiring banks to pay out and accept old notes from their customers, banks are running out of cash.
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Some commercial banks that began issuing old N1,000, N500, and N200 notes to customers on Tuesday told Punch on Wednesday that they had ran out of the old currency.
Several bank officials stated that their inventories of old notes are running short, while others stated that the old currency in their vaults had been depleted.
The CBN has been silent on whether it will reintroduce old notes into circulation, with suggestions that the apex bank is opposed to the reintroduction of old currency due to its commitment to see the cashless policy project through to its conclusion.
According to sources close to the CBN, the apex bank may not release the old notes in its control to banks anytime soon.
According to the insiders, releasing the old notes would be equal to negating the “progress” made on the cashless effort.
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A senior bank executive who spoke on condition of anonymity, said, “The CBN did not print enough new notes and does not want to return the old notes it has collected because it is still driving its cashless policy.”
In addition, a prominent industry executive close to the CBN stated that the apex bank may not return old notes to banks because it will reverse its cashless policy.
According to the managing director of a tier-2 bank, the CBN has yet to publicly speak with banks on whether or not it will return old notes to them.
He said, “We don’t know if the CBN has destroyed the old notes in its custody or not. As we speak, we don’t also know if it will release the old notes to banks again but the truth is banks don’t have many of these old notes in their vaults. Sadly, customers are not depositing much again.
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“Many of us are expecting the CBN to disburse the old notes before Saturday. However, we are concerned they may not do so to curtail vote-buying on Saturday.”
An official of the FCMB branch in Ikeja said its stock of old notes had been exhausted by 2 pm.
He said, “We exhausted our old notes by 2 pm. Our head office has yet to give us any fresh supply because it does not have. We can only hope the CBN will supply soon.”
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