Overview

The document is a presentation by Charles C. Soludo, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), delivered on May 17, 2006. It provides an update on reforms and activities of the CBN under his leadership. The presentation begins with a recap of the CBN's vision and mission: to be one of the most efficient and effective central banks promoting economic development, and to provide a stable framework for Nigeria's economic development through transparent monetary and exchange rate policy and financial sector management. The main focus is on four key areas: currency issuance and management, management of external reserves, price and monetary stability, and the soundness of the financial and payments system. Under currency management, the CBN redesigned lower banknote denominations (N5, N10, N20, N50), introduced new coin series (50k, N1, N2), and planned to issue N20 in polymer substrate by end of 2006. This restructuring reduced currency production costs by 41-58% and coin costs by 60%. The CBN also reformed the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Plc (NSPM), increasing its shareholding from 2.35% to 77%, appointing a new board, reducing staff from 1800 to around 1000, and increasing output by over 30% to 1.27 billion notes in 2005—the first time in over a decade. The company became profitable in 2005, and privatization was planned for early 2006. A clean notes policy improved the ratio of issuable notes from 10% to 30% in 2005. In external reserves management, the goal was to safeguard the naira's international value. Reserves reached US$33 billion, a global custodian (JP Morgan) was appointed, external fund managers were to be appointed in June 2006, staff training in funds management was ongoing, and a modern dealing room was being set up. The CBN joined the World Bank's RAMP program. For price and monetary stability, the focus was on price stability as a core function, with a new Monetary Policy Department signaling a move towards inflation targeting and improved statistics. The presentation also mentions Project EAGLES and the conclusion. Overall, the document highlights significant reforms in currency management, reserves management, and monetary policy, aiming to modernize the CBN and support Nigeria's economic development.

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