Registered mobile users in Nigeria did transactions worth N2.37 trillion in January 2023, a recent data released by the Nigeria Inter-Banking Settlement Systems has revealed.
According to the NIBSS, this represents a 125 percent increase compared to the volume of transactions recorded in the same period last year.
The NIBSS is owned by the Central Bank of Nigeria and all licensed Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria and tasked with handling inter-bank payments in order to remove potential bottlenecks associated with inter-bank funds transfer and settlement.
This increase comes amidst the scarcity of cash in the country occasioned by the redesign of some of the N200, N500, N1000 naira notes.
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Also the report revealed that the volume of NIBSS Instant Payment in Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy rose by 55 percent on a year-on-year basis to 541.64 million in contrast to 348.4 million transactions registered in January 2022.
Recall that The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria had in October, 2022 announced plans to redesign the N200, 500, N1,000 notes which he said were necessary to help reduce the amount of cash in circulation and also aid the cashless policy.
Emefiele had said that the naira redesign would help to rein in the currency outside the banking system and deepen its cashless economy drive which will minimise incidents of terrorism and kidnapping.
According to the CBN’s new cashless policy, daily cash withdrawal over the counter had been limited to N500,000 for individuals while corporate organisations are allowed N5 million.
Withdrawals for daily use from the ATM were also limited to N20,000 per person per day however, following the deadline for the return of the old cash, Nigerians have bemoaned unavailability of the new cash.
