Currency outside banks drops to N3.66tn — CBN

Report has said that currency in circulation outside Nigeria’s banking system dropped to N3.66tn last month (July).

The drop is about 3.32 per cent lower than it was in the previous month (June).

This was disclosed in Money and Credit data available on the website of the Apex Bank.

This showed that the amount outside banks dropped to 90.39 per cent from 93.59 per cent of the currency in circulation recorded in June 2024.

The data further indicated that the value of currency in circulation rose in July to N4.05tn from N4.04tn.

It also showed that from the beginning of the year, the amount of money in circulation rose by 11.05 per cent, compared to 56.17 per cent rise in the same period in 2023.

Members of the Monetary Policy Committee of the apex bank have blamed the excess cash in circulation for the staggering inflation in the country.

Also, money supply (M3), which is a broad measure of the total amount of money in an economy, hit a whopping N106.27tn in July 2024, amid tightening measures by the CBN.

The CBN has maintained a hawkish stance in a bid to rein in inflation.

At its last Monetary Policy Committee meeting in July 2024, the bank raised the MPR by 50 basis points to 26.75 percent from 26.25 in June 2024.

Meanwhile, credit to the private sector continued its rise to N75.48tn year-on-year in July 2024. On a month-on-month basis, banks’ credit to the private sector increased by 3.13 per cent from N73.19tn in June 2024.