Report: Nigerian banks discovered approximately N122.8m worth of fake Naira in two years

Commercial banks in Nigeria intercepted N122.83 million worth of fake Naira notes in circulation in two years.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) disclosed this in its 2020 annual report published on its website.

This report was obtained on the apex bank’s website on Saturday.

CBN revealed that N58.83 million worth of counterfeit Naira notes were discovered in 2020 and N64.71 million in 2019.

The report read: “To maintain the integrity of the banknotes in circulation, the Bank, in collaboration with security agencies intensified efforts at curbing incidences of counterfeiting in the period under review.

“A total of 67,265 pieces of counterfeit notes with a nominal value of N56.83 million was confiscated in 2020, indicating a 20.80 percent decrease in volume and 12.18 percent decrease in value compared with 84,934 pieces valued at N64.71 million in 2019.

“The global standard for the number of counterfeit per million is 100. The ratio of counterfeit notes to the volume of banknotes in circulation was 13 pieces per million in 2020 compared to 20 pieces per million banknotes in 2019.

“The N1000 and N500 denominations constituted the most counterfeited, accounting for 69.06 percent and 30.79 percent, of the total counterfeit notes in 2020, respectively.”

CBN also disclosed that a total of N2.90 trillion was in circulation in 2020.

This was N460 billion higher than the N2.44 trillion worth of Naira notes in circulation in 2019.

Analysis of the Currency In Circulation (CIC) showed that a greater proportion was in higher denominations of N100, N200, N500, and N1000.

These accounted for 63.47 percent and 98.08 percent of the total CIC in terms of volume and value respectively.

The volume of lower banknotes denominations – N5, N10, N20, and N50 accounted for 28.43 percent of the total CIC and 1.92 percent in terms of value as of the end of December 2020.