IMF urges Central Bank of Nigeria to extend February 10 deadline for old naira notes
A wise word of counsel has come from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), who has urged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to extend the February 10 deadline for the use of old naira notes if the challenges of getting new notes linger.
Disclosing this in a statement on Wednesday, IMF’s resident representative for Nigeria, Ari Aisen said the new notes are scarce and Nigerians are also finding it hard to get the old ones.
The deadline for the validity of old naira notes was initially January 31, but it was later extended by 10 days, with February 10 as the new date.
These challenges have led to protests and demonstrations in some parts of the country.
According to the statement by IMF, “In light of hardships caused by disruptions to trade and payments due to the shortage of new bank notes available to the public, in spite of measures introduced by the CBN to mitigate the challenges in the banknote swap process, the IMF encourages the CBN to consider extending the deadline, should problems persist in the next few days leading up to the February 10, 2023 deadline”.
