Eighteen months after the introduction of the cashless policy, cash is still used to settle 83 per cent of retail transactions across the country. Meanwhile, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has continued its enlightenment campaign on the policy with an interactive session with stakeholders in Awka, Anambra State.

ABUJA—There appears to be a new latitude for entrepreneurs in the country as the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, yesterday, launched a N220 billion Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, MSMEs, fund to provide the much needed capital for that sub-sector of the economy.

Currency notes issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, in the denominations of N200, N100, N50, N20, N10 and N5 are currently not readily available on demand in banks in the Lagos area. Even the currency notes in denominations of N500 and N1000 given out by the banks are not clean and do not have a few new notes in the packs as has been the practice in the past.

Oil revenue accounted for 86.67 per cent of gross federally-collected revenue from January to June 2013, as the Federal Government earned a total of N3.809 trillion from oil within the period.

•Interbank rates rise by 74%
Governments’ deposits and borrowing undermine competiveness of banks and corrupt the public sector in Nigeria.

…Customers seek greater awareness
Mixed reactions have continued to trail the revelation by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, of the increasing value of dud cheques issued in Nigeria, which is now over N166 billion. A bounced or dud cheque is an instruction in writing, authorising a bank to make payment against an unfunded or inadequately funded account.

CENTRAL Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, National Insurance Commission, NAICOM, Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation, NDIC, among other stakeholders, have hailed the proposed establishment of Nigerian International Financial Centre, NIFC.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has cautioned banks over appointment of chief compliance officers. In a circular titled, “Statues of Chief Compliance Officers of Banks”, the apex bank frowned at the practice where banks refuse to appoint substantive chief compliance officers.

The Federal Government earned about N522.1billion from Petroleum Profit Tax, PPT, royalties and domestic crude oil and gas sales in May 2013, according to data released by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.

Nigeria’s hope of early economic rejuvenation and growth may have been sadly foreclosed by Lamido Sanusi, in a recent presentation to the House Committee on Banking and Finance in Abuja, when he noted, in spite of the clarion demand by industrialists that “although the CBN has put in place several monitoring measures to ensure stability in the economy, it was not possible to guarantee the delivery of low interest rate, due to the harsh business environment in the country”.