File: CBN Building, Abuja
Cash held outside the banking system fell by N104.76bn between February and April 2026 following the Central Bank of Nigeria’s decision to lower interest rates at its first Monetary Policy Committee meeting of the year, findings by The PUNCH have shown.
Data obtained from the CBN’s money and credit statistics indicated that currency outside banks declined from N5.19tn in February 2026, when the MPC reduced the Monetary Policy Rate to 26.5 per cent, to N5.08tn in April 2026.
The figures showed that cash held outside bank vaults dropped by 2.02 per cent within the two-month period following the rate cut. The apex bank, however, did not release currency data for March 2026, making a month-on-month comparison impossible.
Further analysis of the data showed that total currency in circulation also declined during the review period, dropping by N63.46bn from N5.71tn in February to N5.65tn in April. The proportion of currency circulating outside the banking system also moderated slightly.
