Yesterday, a few commercial banks started issuing old N500 and N1000 bills to the general population.
The action was taken in response to a Supreme Court decision that extended the expiration date of the banknotes to December 31, 2023.
Another event is that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said yesterday that the total repayments made under its Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) totaled N503 billion, or 52.39 percent of the total exposure.
Businesses in Abuja and other locations continued to refuse the old denominations due to the absence of a statement from President Muhammadu Buhari or the apex regarding the issuance of the old banknotes to customers.
Since the Supreme Court’s decision, the central bank has not released any more clarifications or instructions, which has led the financial community to exercise prudence concerning the old notes.
In Abuja, a few GTBank and Access Bank locations distributed obsolete banknotes. People were reportedly withdrawing the old N1000 and N500 notes from Sterling Bank and Access Bank’s ATMs at Iyana Ipaja in Lagos.
However, as almost none of the Point of Sale (POS) operators had cash on hand when the check was written, there was still a severe cash shortage throughout the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Experts, however, predicted that after the apex court’s ruling, cash availability and circulation would significantly improve. They also hoped that after the general election was over next week, monetary policy would be changed in a way that would increase the flow of money throughout the economy.
