Cash held outside Nigeria’s banking system fell to a seven-month low of N4.92 trillion in June 2026, declining by N485.8 billion in the first half of the year, according to the latest money and credit statistics released by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
According to the CBN report, currency outside banks dropped from N5.41 trillion in December 2025 to N4.92 trillion in June, representing an 8.98 percent decline over six months.
The latest figure is the lowest level recorded since November 2025, when cash outside banks stood at N4.91 trillion, indicating that more cash is returning to the banking system.
The data also showed that total currency in circulation declined to N5.52 trillion in June from N5.73 trillion in December 2025, a decrease of N209.56 billion or 3.66 percent.
Cash outside banks fell from N5.41 trillion in December to N5.25 trillion in January and N5.19 trillion in February before dropping further to N5.08 trillion in April.
The figure, however, rose to N5.19 trillion in May before declining by N270.97 billion, or 5.22 percent, to N4.92 trillion in June — the largest month-on-month drop recorded in the available data.
The CBN statistics further showed that 89.11 percent of currency in circulation was held outside banks in June, compared with 91.27 percent in May and 94.33 percent in December 2025.
This means that for every N100 in circulation, about N89 remained outside the banking system in June.
The decline comes as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) intensifies efforts to deepen financial inclusion and encourage the adoption of digital payments.
At the launch of the Payments System Vision (PSV) 2028 on June 1, 2026, Olayemi Cardoso, governor of the CBN, said the apex bank is targeting 95 percent financial inclusion by 2028 while seeking to accelerate digital payments and strengthen consumer confidence in the financial system.
Cardoso also said the CBN wants to reduce reliance on cash, saying “cash should no longer be king”, while targeting fraud losses of less than 0.001 percent of total digital transactions by 2028.
He added that the Payments System Vision 2028 is expected to strengthen Nigeria’s payment infrastructure, support cross-border payments, facilitate trade and remittance flows, and improve investor confidence.
