The Central Bank of Nigeria and its subsidiary spent roughly N74.84 billion in 2022 on the production and distribution of currencies, including new naira notes.
Despite the naira shortage that gripped the country in the latter months of 2022, the CBN spent 40.42 percent more on currency rollout than it did on N53.29 billion the year before.
The CBN spent N29.65 billion on currency issue costs in 2022, a 94.66 percent rise over the N15.23 billion it spent in 2021, according to the central bank’s recently disclosed financial results.
The bank provided a definition of currency issue expenses, stating that they pertain to costs incurred in connection with the printing, processing, distribution, and disposal of currency notes. “When incurred, this is acknowledged as a cost.”
The cost of sale, which is the amount spent by one of the subsidiaries (in this case, the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Plc) to produce currency notes and coins, was N45.19 billion in 2022, up 18.72% from N38.07 billion in 2021.
The statement continued, “They include the cost of raw materials, employee benefit expenses relating to production staff, electricity and diesel expenses, depreciation, and repairs and maintenance.”
The total amount in circulation fell from N3.32 trillion in 2021 to N3.01 trillion in 2022, a 9.47% decrease.
According to the bank’s “2020 Currency Report,” the overall expense for printing bank notes in 2020 was N58.62 billion, a 28.83 percent decrease from the N75.52 billion that was recorded in 2019.
The suspended CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, stated in October 2022 that the bank will issue new naira notes by December 15, 2022, and that some denominations of the current notes would no longer be accepted as legal cash by January 31, 2023.
This action resulted in a liquidity crunch pandemic that negatively affected the economy for months.
