The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Tuesday published latest data on currency-in-circulation (outside of bank vaults) which grew by N101.99bn Month-on-Month from N1.937tr in at the end of February to N2.039tr in March.
The increase follows the N8.107bn or 0.42% drop in the month of February, compared to the previous one, as the March-end coincided with the Christian festive period of Easter which is accompanied with days of celebration.
However, on a Year-to-Date basis, currency-in-circulation within Nigeria dropped by N117.905bn or 5.46% from N2.157bn on December 31, 2017; while Year-on-year, the figure grew by N55.691bn or 2.8% from N1.983tr in the corresponding period of March 2017.
Besides the December 2017 level, the March 2018 figure remains the highest over the past one year, according to data published on the CBN website on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, rising from its maiden meeting in 2018 last week, members of the CBN’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) unanimously voted to retain all rates, including the benchmark Monetary Policy Rate (MPR).
In a communique at the end of the meeting signed by Godwin Emefiele, CBN Governor and MPC chairman, “the committee noted the potential impact of the 2019 election-related spending” which is expected to significantly swell currency-in-circulation across the country.