Currency in Circulation Drops N189.33bn in January

• Currency in Circulation Drops N189.33bn in January

The total currency in circulation fell by N189.33 billion from N2.329 trillion recorded in December 2018 to N2.139 trillion at the end of January 2019, according to the Central Bank of Nigeria.

The drop in the total currency in circulation has been attributed to the rise in adoption of electronic transactions through the use of Point of Sale terminals and Automated Teller Machines (ATM).

ATM transactions surged to N39.15 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2018, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The report titled ‘Selected Banking Sector Data for Fourth Quarter 2018’ showed that 616,528,697 ATM transactions worth N39.15 trillion were performed in the fourth quarter of 2018.

Mr Kayode Ariyo, the Managing Director, Global Accelerex, attributed the surge in electronic transactions to the increase in its adoption by customers.

He said, “The major factor that has contributed to that is the acceptance. People are getting more comfortable with the card payment. The adoption of electronic payment is on the increase by consumers.

“Retailers and merchants have come to terms with it. In the past, we had to appeal to merchants to use the PoS channel. But now, we have a trend where merchants are the ones calling and asking for PoS terminals.”