Victor Ezeja
Currency in circulation (CIC) in Nigeria rose marginally by 0.24 per cent from N5.003 trillion in March to N5.015 trillion in April 2025.
The increase reflects a continued build-up of liquidity in the economy despite monetary tightening efforts by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Join our WhatsApp ChannelAccording to the latest data from the CBN, the amount of currency held outside the formal banking system dropped for the first time in three months from N4.59 trillion in March to N4.57 trillion in April. This represents a 0.4 per cent month-on-month decrease. Despite the slight drop, it, however, remains a significant 91.2 per cent of cash remains outside banks.
Over the past year, the amount of currency in circulation has gradually increased. CIC was N3.97 trillion in May 2024, of which N3.71 trillion, or around 93.5 percent, was held outside of banks.
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CIC increased to N4.05 trillion in June, while N3.79 trillion, or 93.5 percent, was outside the banking system. The CIC for July remained at N4.05 trillion, but the amount of money outside of banks, or 90.6 per cent of the total, decreased little to N3.67 trillion.
CIC rose to N4.14 trillion in August, with N3.87 trillion held outside banks. With N4.31 trillion in circulation and N4.02 trillion retained outside of banks, September maintained the same pattern.
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The CIC increased further in October to N4.55 trillion, with N4.29 trillion (94.3 per cent) of the amount outside the banking system.
November saw the greatest percentage of the year, with N4.88 trillion in circulation and N4.65 trillion outside banks. It further rose to N5.44 trillion in December 2024 and but dropped to N5.235 trillion in January 2025. The CIC decreased slightly to N5.037 trillion in February and N5.003 trillion in March.
Even though currency outside of banks saw a slight drop in April, the increase in total CIC shows that liquidity conditions are still high. More general monetary aggregates still show this growth.
April’s money supply (M3) increased to N119.10 trillion, up 4.3 per cent from March’s N114.22 trillion and 22.8 per cent year-on-year from April 2024’s N96.97 trillion.
Between March and April, private sector credit increased from N76.26 trillion to N77.90 trillion. Credit to the government, on the other hand, decreased by 8.9 per cent month-on-month, from N25.85 trillion in March to N23.55 trillion in April, however, it was still 17.9 per cent greater than the N19.97 trillion recorded in April 2024.
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with seven years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Master's degree in Mass Communication.
