FINANCIAL experts have kicked against the plan by the Central Bank of
Nigeria (CBN) to convert lower currency denominations from polymer notes
to paper.
In an interview with the Nigerian Tribune on Monday, a renowned economist and Chief Executive, Economic Associate, Dr Ayo Teriba, said the new policy should be reconsidered, stressing that “although paper last longer than polymer, it is not good for our economy, because they both have short life span.”
He suggested that instead of converting to paper, lower denominations should be coined, because of the velocity of usage by Nigeria.
“We use lower denominations everyday at both the rural and urban centres at the retail end of the market for daily transaction.
Therefore, it is better to coin lower denomination, instead of changing to paper,” Dr Teriba said.
Another financial expert and former member, House of Representative, Dr A. Wunmi, said policy summersault by the CBN was bad, stressing that the issue was not “whether we are going to use polymer or paper notes, but the costs involved.”
“CBN is built around individual instead of institution. We must be consistence in our policy. We must know the cost implication of the paper notes. We need to streamline the new reform,” he said.
CBN, it will be recalled, has said it will stop printing lower currency denomination of N5, N10, N20 and N50 notes beginning from July.
Deputy Governor of CBN, Mr Tunde Lemo, disclosed this on Sunday in Washington DC, United States, saying it had been noticed that polymer notes faded easily.
Speaking at the ongoing Spring Meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF), Lemo said “by middle of the year, we will start to produce the second generation of lower denomination notes, now in paper not in polymer.”
He was quoted to have said “my plea is that Nigerians should exercise patience with us. It wasn’t the fault of CBN; it was just because we had to go back to the drawing board to rethink ‘Project Cure’ in the light of the wish of the public that we should not go ahead with the N5,000 notes and lower denomination.
In an interview with the Nigerian Tribune on Monday, a renowned economist and Chief Executive, Economic Associate, Dr Ayo Teriba, said the new policy should be reconsidered, stressing that “although paper last longer than polymer, it is not good for our economy, because they both have short life span.”
He suggested that instead of converting to paper, lower denominations should be coined, because of the velocity of usage by Nigeria.
“We use lower denominations everyday at both the rural and urban centres at the retail end of the market for daily transaction.
Therefore, it is better to coin lower denomination, instead of changing to paper,” Dr Teriba said.
Another financial expert and former member, House of Representative, Dr A. Wunmi, said policy summersault by the CBN was bad, stressing that the issue was not “whether we are going to use polymer or paper notes, but the costs involved.”
“CBN is built around individual instead of institution. We must be consistence in our policy. We must know the cost implication of the paper notes. We need to streamline the new reform,” he said.
CBN, it will be recalled, has said it will stop printing lower currency denomination of N5, N10, N20 and N50 notes beginning from July.
Deputy Governor of CBN, Mr Tunde Lemo, disclosed this on Sunday in Washington DC, United States, saying it had been noticed that polymer notes faded easily.
Speaking at the ongoing Spring Meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF), Lemo said “by middle of the year, we will start to produce the second generation of lower denomination notes, now in paper not in polymer.”
He was quoted to have said “my plea is that Nigerians should exercise patience with us. It wasn’t the fault of CBN; it was just because we had to go back to the drawing board to rethink ‘Project Cure’ in the light of the wish of the public that we should not go ahead with the N5,000 notes and lower denomination.
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