The Central Bank of Nigeria has said that it is gradually withdrawing old N1,000, N500 and N200 notes from circulation.

The Acting CBN governor Folashodun Shonubi made the disclosure on Tuesday at the Monetary Policy Committee meeting.

Ha also clarified that there are no plans to withdraw the new notes as being speculated by some people.

Shonubi said, “When a currency is printed and sent out, it is expected that it will go through a long cycle and over time will become worn and then will be replaced. That is what we are doing. We had to put out or re-put out old notes and as they are coming in, they were being processed and returned to us as not issuable. We are then bringing out and replacing them with the new notes.

“We believe that we have an optimal level of the currency out there. So, more of what is being done is a replacement to keep the level rather than just putting money out there and that is seen by the fact that the banks whenever they come to us for notes, we provide it to them. If it wasn’t enough, they will be asking us for much more. If it was too much, they will be dumping them much more on us.”

Former President Muhammadu Buhari launched new naira banknotes on November 23 which were expected to be withdrawn on January 31 2023.

After dramatic extensions, the currency was permitted to circulate till December.

“Slowly and over time, you will see how the old notes are replaced out of the system with the new notes that will be the norm. And that will be out of practice and not just fanfare. You will just see it slowly move from old to new notes,” the acting CBN Boss said.