Nigeria's cash crunch: Hunting out savings from under mattresses - BBC News

Why Africa's most-populous country is introducing new bank notes weeks before an election.

17 hours agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, Getty ImagesIn our series of letters from African journalists, Mannir Dan Ali, former editor-in-chief of Nigeria's Daily Trust newspaper, looks at the latest cash crisis to hit Africa's most-populous nation weeks before elections.

Cash is king in Nigeria - electronic banking it still in its infancy. In fact very few people keep their money in banks - and it is often joked that most put any savings they have under their mattresses.

According to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), less than 20% of the local currency in circulation is held by the banks.

CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele explained that of the 3.2 trillion naira ($7bn; £5.8bn) in circulation, up to 2.7 trillion was outside the vaults of commercial banks.

This is one of the reasons why he made a shock announcement in October that three of the country's higher denominations were going to be replaced.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-64225946?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA

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