Economy
CBN Will Slowly Phase Out Old Naira Notes—Shonubi
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will slowly but surely phase out old N200, N500, and N1,000 notes with the redesigned ones, according to the Acting CBN Governor, Mr Folashodun Shonubi.
The apex bank head gave this response while fielding questions on Tuesday after the bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting in Abuja.
At the end of the two-day bi-monthly meeting, the apex bank raised the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) by 25 basis points from 18.5 per cent to 18.75 per cent. At the same time, it adjusted the asymmetric corridor to +100/-300 from +100/-700 and retained the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) at 32.5 per cent, and the liquidity ratio at 30 per cent.
“When a currency is printed and sent out, it is expected that it will go through a number of cycles, and then over time, will become one and then be replaced. That’s what we’re doing.
“We had to put out or re-put out old notes. And as they’re coming in, they’re being processed and returned to us as not issuable. We are then bringing out and replacing them with the new notes,” Mr Shonubi told newsmen yesterday.
He also said there is an optimal level of currency currently in circulation, and the CBN is slowly replacing worn-out notes with new ones.
“We believe that we have an optimal level of the currency out there, and so much of what’s being done is the replacement to keep the level, rather than just putting money out there,” he said.
“And that is seen by the fact that the banks, whenever they come to us for notes, we provide it to them. If it wasn’t enough, they would be asking us for more. If it was too much, they’d be dumping that much more on us.
“So, we will slowly, and over time you will see the old notes replaced out of the system with the new notes that’ll be the norm.
“And that will be out of practice, not fanfare; you’ll just see it slowly morph from old to new,” he added.
In October 2022, the CBN announced the redesigning of N200, N500 and N1,000 notes and gave a target of January 31, 2023, to end the use of the old Naira notes.
This created hardship for Nigeria, spurring three state governments – Kaduna, Kogi, and Zamfara – to sue the federal government at the Supreme Court for a reversal of the policy. It was later joined by 13 other states, including Lagos.
On March 3, the Supreme Court ordered the immediate recirculation of the old naira notes ruling that the old N200, N500, and N1,000 notes be used as legal tender till December 31.
This was met with no quick action as erstwhile President Muhammadu Buhari distanced himself from the CBN governor and the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), noting that “at no time did he instruct the Attorney General and the CBN Governor to disobey any court orders involving the government and other parties.”
Ten days after the court decision, the CBN, on March 13, 2023, finally announced the continued use of the old N200, N500, and N1,000 banknotes as legal tender alongside the new naira notes until December 31, 2023.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
One of the paint makers in Nigeria, Premier Paints Plc, is currently in talks with a new investor, Xenergi Limited, for the purchase of 51 per cent stake in the company.
Xenergi Limited intends to acquire shares of Clover Global Resources Limited and TGHL Capital Limited in the organisation.
Business Post gathered that the new investor will buy 39.02 per cent from Clover Global Resources Limited and 15.20 per cent from TGHL Capital Limited.
The deal, according to a regulatory notice issued on Tuesday on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited, will involve about 63 million shares of Premier Paints.
At the current share price of the paint producer, this should be about N630 million as it closed at N10.00 per unit on NGX on December 16, 2025.
“Subject to obtaining required regulatory approvals, the transaction is expected to close before January 31, 2026.
“The company will continue to inform the public of the progress of the transaction,” the disclosure signed by the company secretary, Alozie Nwokoro, said.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira was flat against the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Tuesday, December 16, retaining the previous closing value of N1,451.82/$1.
In the same vein, the local currency saw no movement against the Pound Sterling and the Euro in the spot market during the session at N1,943.98/£1 and N1,705.74/€1, respectively.
Also, the Nigerian Naira remained unchanged in the black market yesterday at N1,475/$1 and was N1,460/$1 at the GTBank forex counter.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has strengthened US Dollar supply with $250 million to authorised dealer banks at the official window cumulatively as foreign portfolio investors, exporters and non-bank corporate supply dripped.
The spread between official and other non-regulated markets decreased to N30.59$/1 from N44.57/$1, from the previous week, research subsidiary of Coronation Merchant Bank Limited said in a report.
FX analysts said foreign exchange inflows through the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market decreased to $716.3 million from $844.70 million in the previous week , a 15 per cent drop in a week.
Foreign portfolio investors accounted for the highest share of inflows at 32.98 per cent, followed by exporters at 30.84 per cent, the CBN (17.36 per cent), Non-bank Corporates (16.94 per cent), others (0.72 per cent) and Individuals (0.63 per cent).
On Monday, Nigeria’s headline inflation rate eased to 14.45 per cent in November 2025, down from 16.05 per cent recorded in October, according to the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), representing a decrease of 1.6 percentage points month-on-month and marks a significant moderation compared to the same period last year.
As for the cryptocurrency market, there was some recoveries after overall capitalization falling below $3 trillion for the third time in a month. Large-cap assets, particularly those with Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) exposure, are experiencing selling pressure as institutional investors reassess risk.
Ripple (XRP) appreciated by 1.5 per cent to $1.92, Litecoin (LTC) expanded by 1.5 per cent to $78.91, Dogecoin (DOGE) rose by 0.8 per cent to $0.1308, Solana (SOL) went up by 0.4 per cent to $127.60, Binance Coin (BNB) grew by 0.3 per cent to $865.40, and Bitcoin (BTC) gained 0.2 per cent to sell at $86,735.17.
On the flip side, Cardano (ADA) depreciated by 1.0 per cent to $0.3802 and Ethereum (ETH) slumped by 0.4 per cent to $2,935.85, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) were flat at $1.00 each.
By Dipo Olowookere
A marginal 0.01 per cent rise was recorded by the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Tuesday. This was different from the flattish mode of the market the previous day.
Investor sentiment remained bullish as Customs Street finished with 31 price gainers and 26 price losers, implying a positive market breadth index.
Aluminium Extrusion topped the gainers’ log after it improved its price by 10.00 per cent to N9.35, Guinness Nigeria appreciated by 9.98 per cent to N263.40, Multiverse expanded by 9.95 per cent to N12.15, MeCure Industries also soared by 9.95 per cent to N45.85, and Sovereign Trust Insurance advanced by 9.89 per cent to N4.11.
Conversely, Haldane McCall led the losers’ chart after it shed 9.93 per cent to settle at N3.72, Veritas Kapital lost 9.09 per cent to close at N1.60, LivingTrust Mortgage Bank also declined by 9.09 per cent to N3.50, and Linkage Assurance depreciated by 5.71 per cent to N1.65.
During the trading day, the All-Share Index (ASI) went up by 21.23 points to 149,459.11 points from the previous day’s 149,437.88 points and the market capitalisation increased by N14 billion to N95.281 trillion from N95.267 trillion.
Yesterday, traders transacted 1.0 billion equities for N21.8 billion in 23,701 deals compared with the 553.1 million equities valued at N13.3 billion traded in 28,907 deals on Monday, representing a decline in the number of deals by 18.01 per cent, and a surge in the trading volume and value by 80.80 per cent and 63.91 per cent apiece.
Access Holdings traded 385.8 million stocks worth N7.7 billion, Champion Breweries transacted 111.8 million shares valued at N817.8 million, Sterling Holdings exchanged 85.5 million equities for N589.9 million, FCMB sold 74.7 million shares valued at N791.5 million, and First Holdco transacted 51.9 million equities worth N1.8 billion.
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