The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) spent ₦315.18 billion on currency issuance in 2024, marking a 306% surge from ₦77.67 billion in 2023, as the apex bank battled widespread cash shortages triggered by the naira redesign policy. This unprecedented rise covered costs related to printing, processing, distribution, and destruction of currency notes, amid sustained public outcry and intense regulatory enforcement.
Despite rolling out emergency measures and penalizing banks for cash distribution failures including a combined ₦1.54 billion in fines levied on major commercial banks the volume of currency outside banks surged by 49.3% to ₦5.13 trillion, underlining Nigeria’s persistent dependence on physical cash.
Although the CBN recorded a ₦165 billion surplus in 2024 a reversal from a ₦1.3 trillion deficit in 2023 it also faced rising liquidity management expenses and foreign exchange derivative losses, exposing the high financial cost of abrupt monetary shifts and structural weaknesses in the country’s cash infrastructure.
