CBN Spent ₦74.84bn On Naira Redesign, Currency Issue Expenses In 2022 – Report

The naira redesign policy initiated by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and other expenses related to currency issues cost the apex bank about ₦74.84 billion in 2022.

The expenses on currency issues relate to expenses the apex bank incurred during the printing, processing, distribution, and disposal of currency notes.

These include the cost of raw materials, employee benefit expenses relating to production staff, electricity and diesel expenses, depreciation and repairs and maintenance.

According to the bank’s recently released financial statement, the CBN in 2022 spent ₦29.65 billion on currency issue expenses alone. The amount spent indicates a 94.66% increase from the ₦15.23 billion spent in 2021.

During the same period after review, the cost of sale (Expenses) incurred by the Nigeria Security Printing and Minting (NSPM) Plc for the production of currency notes and coins was ₦45.19 billion indicating an increase of 18.72% from the ₦38.07 billion recorded in 2021.

The combined expenses (Cost of sale) incurred from the production of currency notes and coins by the NSPM, and the currency issue expenses brought the total expenses by the apex bank to ₦74.84 billion.

The amount was 40.42% more than the ₦53.29 billion it spent in the preceding year (2021). The CBN’s naira redesign policy involved the production of new ₦1000, ₦500 and ₦200 notes as the bank planned to phase out the older notes in November last year.

While defending the policy, the ex-CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, last year, said the redesign was initiated following a request from the federal government. The policy had, however, caused one of the worst currency crises the country has ever witnessed.

During the heat of the naira crisis, Aisha Ahmad, Deputy Governor, of the Financial System Stability Directorate of the CBN while representing the ex-bank governor, Emefiele before a House of Representatives committee had revealed the bank had ordered ₦500 million worth of new currency notes from the NSPM Plc.

Ahmad however, failed to disclose how much was spent to produce the notes.