CBN: Old, Redesigned Banknotes Remain Legal Tender

•Naira depreciates on parallel market to N1,020/$, drops to N874/$ on I&E

James Emejo in Abuja and Nume Ekeghe in Lagos

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) yesterday emphasised that every banknote issued by the apex bank remained legal tender and should not be rejected by anyone, as stipulated in Section 20(5) of the CBN Act, 2007.

The central bank particularly stressed that both the old and redesigned naira banknotes remained legal tender and should not be rejected by anyone.

The apex bank further insisted that there were sufficient banknotes across the country for all normal economic activity.

In a statement, CBN Director, Corporate Communications Department, Dr. Isa AbdulMumin, stressed that all denominations of banknotes issued by the central bank remained legal tender.

He said in line with Section 20(5) of the CBN Act, 2007, no one should refuse to accept the naira as a means of payment. The apex bank noted that the clarification became necessary in view of recent reports of alleged scarcity of cash across some major cities in the country despite assurances of sufficient cash stocks in all locations across the country.

The CBN also expressed concerns over reports of anxiety among some members of the public over the legality or otherwise of old naira banknotes.

AbdulMumin stated, “For the avoidance of doubt, while reiterating that there are sufficient banknotes across the country for all normal economic activity, we wish to state unambiguously that every banknote issued by the CBN remains legal tender and should not be rejected by anyone, as stipulated in Section 20(5) of the CBN Act, 2007.

“Accordingly, branches of the CBN across the country have been directed to continue to issue different denominations of old and redesigned banknotes in adequate quantities to deposit money banks (DMBS) for onward circulation to bank customers.

“We wish to restate that all denominations of banknotes issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) remain legal tender. In line with Section 20(5) of the CBN Act, 2007, no one should refuse to accept the Naira as a means of payment.”

He said, “Consequently, members of the public are advised to accept all CBN-issued banknotes currently in circulation and guard against panic withdrawals.

We reaffirm that there is sufficient stock of currency notes to facilitate normal economic activities.

“Furthermore, to reduce the pressure on the use of physical cash, members of the public are again advised to continue to embrace alternative modes of payment.”

Meanwhile, the naira depreciated marginally against the dollar on the parallel market where it exchanged at N1,020/$, lower than the N990/$ it closed the previous day.

Also, on the official Investors and Exporters’ (I&E) FX window, it further depreciated to N874.71/$, lower than the N869.91/$ it closed on Tuesday. However, intra-day trade from the data obtained by FMDQ showed that on the I&E Window, the highest spot rate exchanged was N1097.50/$ while the lowest spot rate recorded was N745/$.

The official I&E window reported a daily volume turnover of $113.52 million representing a 60.13 per cent increase, compared to the $70.92 million, it recorded on Tuesday.