Minting Of Naira Reduced To Boost Electronic Transactions – Nigeria’s Apex Bank

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Thursday, said it reduced the minting of the Naira to boost electronic banking transactions in the country.

CBN Deputy Governor, Economic Policy Directorate, Dr Kingsley Obiora, said this on Thursday, at the Grand Finale of the eNaira Hackathon, held in Abuja.

The Hackathon is an initiative, which creates a collaborative environment for experts with a diverse set of skills to drive sustained innovation, geared towards making the eNaira the pinnacle for digital financial services and the gateway to the Digital Economy.

It is intended to seek solutions that would drive financial inclusion, SME growth and the creation of start-ups; facilitate cross-border trades and transfers, as well as international remittances and foreign exchanges; effective implementation of welfare-inclined government programs; and enhance efficiency in the interbank market.

Thursday’s event is targeted at providing an engagement with critical stakeholders in the financial technology space to deepen the link between eNaira and Fintechs.

Speaking at the event, Obiora said major economies of the world have started reducing the use of cash as a form of business transactions.

He said in South Korea, 77 percent of the people no longer use cash to make payments, while 30 percent of the population in the Philippines don’t use cash as a form of exchange.

Obiora said in Nigeria, the reduction in the use of cash as a medium of exchange has led to an explosion in electronic businesses.

He said, “In South Korea, 77percent no longer use cash to make payments, while in the Philippines it is 30 percent.

“In Nigeria too, we are also seeing the same decline in the use of cash, the minting of currencies in the CBN has been reducing in the last couple of years.

“So, alongside this reduction in the use of cash has also been an explosion in electronic business and e-business and we have seen the value of e-business grow from N393bn in 2014 to about N2.4trn now.

“And so, if you look at this movement, you will realise that the central banks in the world are responding to the yearnings of citizens which is why citizens in 96 percent of Central banks in the world are either working on digital currencies or they have done so already.”