Cash outside Nigerian banks drops to N4.92tn in June, lowest in seven months
The amount of cash held outside Nigeria's banking system fell to N4.92 trillion in June 2026, the lowest level since November 2025, according to the Central Bank of Nigeria's Money and Credit Statistics reported by Nairametrics. This marks an 8.98% decline from N5.41 trillion in December 2025, with the steepest monthly drop of 5.22% occurring in June after a temporary rise in May. Despite the decline, 89.11% of all currency in circulation remained outside banks in June, down from 91.27% in May and 94.33% in December 2025, indicating that while more cash is returning to banks, Nigeria remains heavily cash-dependent. The trend reflects the Central Bank's push to deepen digital payments through the Nigeria Payment System Vision 2028, which aims to cut cash outside banks to below 40% and deploy over 10 million QR-code and tap-to-pay points nationwide. With cash still dominating informal sectors, will you shift more of your transactions to digital platforms as more payment points roll out, or wait until cash usage drops further?