The value of eNaira, the Central Bank of Nigeria’s digital currency, increased by 78.8 percent year on year (YoY) to N18.32 billion in the first ten months of 2024 (Q3’24), from N11.66 billion in the same time in 2023. According to data from the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) Monthly Economic Reports for the review period, the value of the eNaira remained steady in Q1’24 at N13.98 billion in 2024 compared to the previous quarter Q4’23.
The value increased by 31% YoY to N18.38 billion in Q2’24, but decreased by 0.16 percent to N18.35 billion in Q3’24. However, month on month, the value of the eNaira declined by 0.16 percent to N18.32 billion in October.
The eNaira, introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in October 2021, is a digital form of the Naira that may be used in the same way as paper money (cash) is. The eNaira wallet is a digital storage device that contains the eNaira. The eNaira wallet is necessary to access, save, and use eNaira.
According to the CBN, the eNaira was created to deepen financial inclusion by bringing more people into the financial space, supporting a resilient payment ecosystem, lowering the cost of processing cash, enabling welfare intervention for citizens, increasing transparency in revenue and tax collections, facilitating Diaspora remittances, lowering the cost of financial transactions, and improving payment efficiency.
Recently, CBN Governor Olayemi Cardoso presented the apex bank’s Payment System Vision 2025, stating that a complete evaluation of the eNaira implementation would be conducted to enable broad and positive economic impact.
Cardoso stated at the 59th Annual Bankers Dinner of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria, CIBN, that “to further enhance confidence in the payment system, our Payment System Vision 2025 initiative will drive initiatives to encourage quick and affordable cross-border payment, a critical step towards unlocking trade, investment, and economic growth.”Furthermore, the eNaira, our CBDC, has considerable development potential.
“We will therefore undertake a comprehensive review of its implementation to optimise broad and positive economic impact.”
