- Again, CBN refutes plans to redenominate currency
The Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Taiwo Oyedele, has assured Nigerians that the ongoing plan by the Federal Government to introduce new foreign exchange rules will reflect the true value of the naira.
He also said the plan which would include a crackdown on illicit currency trading, would result in naira closing its gap with the unofficial rate and reaching a “fair price” before the end of 2023.
According to him, the government sees a “fair price” for the dollar at “N650 to N750”.
Oyedele, speaking in an interview with Bloomberg on Monday, added that the government would set transparent rules for the operations of the official market after clearing a backlog of dollar demand estimated at about $6.7 billion.
He said, “The Federal Government plans to introduce new foreign exchange rules, the federal government plans to introduce new foreign exchange rules, including a crackdown on illicit currency trading.”
In the same vein, the Central Bank of Nigeria has said that it has no plan to redenominate or restructure the naira notes in 2024.
The apex bank said this on Tuesday in a statement signed by its Director, Corporate Communications, Isa AbdulMumin, and shared on its X handle.
The CBN urged Nigerians to disregard the wide circulation of a text message suggesting that the apex bank planned to redenominate the country’s legal tender next year, noting that the contents of the message were misleading.
“We are concerned that this narrative, which we had refuted before now, appears to be gaining traction with several debates on the implication of such a policy for the Nigerian economy.
“We wish to reiterate that the contents of the message are misleading. The authors of the message, in their mischief, modified text eked from an old policy move by a previous CBN Governor in 2007 to make it appear recent.
“For the avoidance of doubt, there is currently no plan by the Bank to restructure and redenominate the naira.”
However, it added that while the bank may be considering reforms, “such are subject to laid down procedures in line with the provisions of the CBN Act, 2007.
“The public is hereby advised to ignore the news report, as it is speculative and calculated to cause panic in the polity,” AbdulMumin added.
The CBN had in 2022 redesigned the N200, N500 and N1000 notes.