World Bank, IMF Others Warn CBN Against Naira Swap Deadline
The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have urged the the Central Bank of Nigeria to extend the currency swap time limit, noting that the short timeframe was causing hardships in the country.
The advice of the international organisations was in line with the Supreme Court ruling against the Friday deadline.
The Supreme Court as at Wednesday restrained the Federal Government from implementing the Friday deadline for the currency swap.
A seven-man panel of the apex court led by Justice John Okoro, in a unanimous ruling, granted an interim injunction restraining the Federal Government, CBN and commercial banks from implementing the Friday terminal date for the old naira notes.
In his ruling, Okoro granted the relief requested by the governors of Kaduna, Kogi, and Zamfara, stating that “An order of interim injunction restraining the Federal Government through the Central Bank of Nigeria or the commercial banks from suspending or determining or ending on February 10, 2023, the time frame with which the now older version of the 200, 500 and 1,000 denomination of the naira may no longer be legal tender pending the hearing and determination of their motion on notice for interlocutory injunction”.
Also Read: JUST IN: Supreme Court Bans CBN from Implementing Deadline on Old Naira Notes
The court further held that the FG, CBN and commercial banks must not continue with the deadline pending the determination of a notice in respect of the issue on February 15.
On February 3, three northern states had filed an ex parte motion urging the apex court to halt the CBN’s naira redesign.
Moving the application on Wednesday, counsel to the applicants, Mr Adul-Hakeem Mustapha, SAN, argued that the policy had led to an “excruciating situation that is almost leading to anarchy in the land”.
In response to the policy, Mustapha lamented that the few Nigerians with bank accounts have been unable to access their money.
The senior lawyer further averred that unless the Supreme Court intervened, the situation would lead to anarchy because most banks were already closing operations.
Justice Okoro adjourned till February 15 for a hearing of the substantive suit.
In a separate statement after an official staff visit to Nigeria by the IMF, the multilateral organisation equally asked the CBN to continue tightening its monetary policy.
The statement read, “Looking ahead, directors recommended decisive fiscal and monetary tightening to secure macroeconomic stability, combined with structural reforms to improve governance, strengthen the agricultural sector, and boost inclusive sustainable growth”.
It added, “Directors urged decisive and effective monetary policy tightening to avoid a de-anchoring of inflation expectations.
“Noting recent increases in the policy rate, they encouraged the Central Bank of Nigeria to stand ready to further increase the policy rate if needed, and to implement additional actions, including fully sterilising central bank financing of fiscal deficits and phasing out credit intervention programs. Strengthening the CBN’s independence and establishing price stability as its primary objective is critical”.
The IMF also encouraged the Nigerian government to remove the fuel subsidy by June and increase well-targeted social spending, alongside boosting revenue mobilization.
The global institution also urged the Nigerian government to finalise securitization of the CBN’s Ways and Means Advances, while emphasizing that the bank’s budget financing should strictly adhere to the statutory limits.
It called for a continued move toward a unified and market-clearing exchange rate by dismantling various exchange rate windows at the CBN.
On its part, the World Bank Nigeria said though it was normal to have periodic currency redesigns and demonetisation, such a transition usually takes about one year or more.
In an email response to our correspondent’s enquiry on Wednesday, the World Bank’s Senior External Affairs Officer for Nigeria, Mansir Nasir, noted that the bank was concerned about the short transition period announced by the CBN.
The email response read, “Periodic currency redesigns and demonetization of older notes are normal internationally. However, they usually involve transition periods of one year or longer so as to minimize economic disruption.
“After the Central Bank of Nigeria announced the naira redesign on October 26, 2022, with a short implementation timeframe through January 31, 2023 (now extended for a short additional period until February 10, 2023), the World Bank expressed concern about the timing and short transition period (see Nigeria Development Update, December 2022)”.
The World Bank further noted that rapid demonetisation could be costly to small businesses and poor and vulnerable households.
It added that it was highly unlikely that digital payments would increase fast enough to cover up for the shortage of new notes.
“This concern is based on international experience which suggests that rapid demonetizations can generate significant short-term costs, with small-scale businesses, and poor and vulnerable households, including in rural areas, being particularly affected as they are liquidity-constrained and rely heavily on day-to-day cash transactions.
“It is highly unlikely that digital payments can increase quickly enough to compensate for the shortage of new notes; according to the latest available data (from before this policy), only 45 per cent of Nigerian adults had a bank account, 34 per cent reported paying or receiving money digitally over the past year, and only 9 per cent made an in-store payment by digital means.
It added, “Digitisation is a structural challenge that will take time and require a systematic approach, especially to address inclusion challenges”.
