Currency outside banks fell by N200.70 billion between December 2025 and February this year, findings by New Telegraph show. According to the latest Money and Credit Statistics data released by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), currency outside banks, which stood at N5.41 trillion in December 2025, dropped to N5.21 trillion and N5.20 trillion in January and February this year respectively.
Interestingly, currency outside banks also declined in the corresponding period of last year as it fell from N5.13 trillion in December 2024 to N4.74 trillion in January 2025 and N4.52 trillion in February last year.
The latest CBN data also shows that the total amount of Currency-In-Circulation (CIC), which stood at N5.732 trillion in December 2025 declined marginally to N5.731 trillion in January and February this year.
This means that 90.86 per cent of currency in circulation was outside banks in February this year. Analysts note that the slight decline in currency outside banks in recent months comes amid continued efforts by the CBN to manage liquidity conditions in the financial system through tight monetary policy measures aimed at curbing inflation and stabilising the foreign exchange market.
Indeed, with Nigeria’s headline inflation rate eased slightly to 15.06 per cent in February 2026 from 15.10% in January 2026, marking the 11th consecutive month of declining year-on-year inflation, the apex bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) reduced the benchmark interest rate-the Monetary Policy Rate(MPR) to 26.5 per cent at its meeting in February.
This was only the second time the MPC cut rates since Olayemi Cardoso assumed office as CBN Governor in September 2023. In announcing the MPC’s decision to cut rates at the end of the MPC meeting, Cardoso said: “The Committee decided to reduce the monetary policy rate by 50 basis points to 26.5 per cent.”
He also said that the MPC resolved to “retain the Standing Facilities Corridor around the MPR at +50/-450 basis points” and to “retain the Cash Reserve Requirement for Deposit Money Banks at 45.00 per cent, Merchant Banks at 16.00 per cent, and 75.00 per cent for non-TSA public sector deposits.”
Cardoso explained that the decision was based on “a balanced evaluation of risks to the outlook,” which indicates that “the ongoing disinflation trajectory would continue, largely supported by the lagged transmission of previous monetary tightening, sustained exchange rate stability, and enhanced food supply.”
According to the CBN Governor, “food inflation declined markedly to 8.89 per cent from 10.84 per cent,” while “core inflation declined to 17.72 per cent from 18.63 per cent. “On a month-on-month basis, headline inflation fell to -2.88 per cent in January from 0.54 per cent in December, which the committee said signalled “a continued softening of price pressures.”
