Nume Ekeghe
Cash held outside Nigeria’s banking system stood at N4.92 trillion in September 2026, accounting for 89.23 per cent of the N5.52 trillion currency in circulation, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Money and Credit Statistics has revealed.
Analysis of the data showed that despite the increase in cash outside banks over the past year, its share of currency in circulation declined slightly, while cash accounted for a smaller proportion of the country’s expanding money supply.
A breakdown showed that currency outside banks rose by 10.26 per cent year-on-year from N4.47 trillion in September 2025 to N4.92 trillion in September 2026. On a month-on-month basis, it increased by one per cent from N4.87 trillion in August.
However, the proportion of currency in circulation held outside banks fell to 89.23 per cent in September from 90.15 per cent in the corresponding period of the previous year. This suggests that although the amount of cash outside the banking system increased, its share of total currency in circulation moderated.
Currency in circulation, which represents cash held both within and outside banks, rose to N5.52 trillion in September from N4.95 trillion a year earlier, an increase of 11.40 per cent. It also increased by 1.50 per cent from N5.44 trillion in August.
A comparison with the beginning of the year showed a different trend. Currency outside banks declined from N5.25 trillion in January to N4.92 trillion in September, representing a contraction of 6.28 per cent. Currency in circulation also fell from N5.73 trillion to N5.52 trillion over the same period, a decline of 3.73 per cent.
The figures indicate that the amount of cash outside banks remained substantial, even as the total value of currency in circulation stayed below its January level.
Another notable development was the declining weight of physical cash relative to the broader money supply. Currency in circulation represented 3.76 per cent of broad money supply, measured by M3, in September 2026, compared with 4.21 per cent in September 2025.
Broad money supply increased to N146.60 trillion in September from N117.78 trillion a year earlier, representing a rise of 24.47 per cent. The faster expansion of broad money relative to currency in circulation explains the decline in cash’s share of the monetary aggregate.
On a month-on-month basis, currency in circulation accounted for 3.91 per cent of broad money supply in August, before declining to 3.76 per cent in September, as M3 increased from N139.09 trillion to N146.60 trillion.