Naira Redesign: CBN or Finance Minister? Buhari Finally Speaks on His Position
- On the proposed redesign of some naira notes, President Muhammadu Buhari has said that the CBN has his approval
- The president, during an interview on Sunday, October 30, said the CBN boss gave his reasons why the redesign is necessary
- One of them, according to President Buhari, is that the Nigerian economy will experience a reduction in inflation after the redesign
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Abuja - President Muhammadu Buhari has revealed his position on the proposal of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to redesign the naira notes.
In an interview with Tambari TV on Sunday, October 30, Buhari said the CBN has his full support and approval to go ahead with the redesign, Vanguard reports.
Source: Twitter
Giving his reason for the approval, the president noted that the apex bank gave him sufficient reasons why the notes should be changed.
Quoting the CBN, Buhari said the Nigerian economy stands to benefit from a reduction in inflation, currency counterfeiting, and the excess cash in circulation.
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A statement on this seen by Punch released by a presidential media aide, Garba Shehu, read:
“Buhari said reasons given to him by the CBN convinced him that the economy stood to benefit from reduction in inflation, currency counterfeiting, and the excess cash in circulation.
“He said he did not consider the period of three months for the change to the new notes as being short.
”People with illicit money buried under the soil will have a challenge with this but workers, businesses with legitimate incomes will face no difficulties at all.”
He added that the time frame given by the bank for the redesign (three months) is also not short.
Economy expert speaks with Legit.ng
However, an expert in the Nigerian economy, who is also a chartered administrator, Marcus Eze, told Legit.ng on Monday, October 31, that two factors need to be considered to ascertain the effect of CBN's proposal.
Marcus noted that money in itself has both intrinsic value (cost of production) and face value (purchasing power). He explained that if the cost incurred by the government is more than the actual value of the notes to be redesigned, then the country is losing.
Not only that, Marcus said this will mean so much money in circulation but lower purchasing power, which is inflation.
But he went on to state that if the cost of production is minimal, the level of inflation will drop and the economy will experience a boost.
Naira redesign: CBN fires finance minister, says it has approval from Buhari
Amid controversy over the plan to redesign the Naira, the CBN had said it followed due process as far as the process of three series of the naira is concerned.
The spokesman of the apex bank, Osita Nwanisobi, said this while responding to the minister of finance, budget, and national planning, Zainab Ahmed, who said her ministry was not carried along.
Legit.ng gathered that while appearing before a Senate committee on Friday, October 28, the minister had faulted the process, which she described as ill-timed.
Source: Legit.ng
