The Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE), has decried that the scarcity of new naira is slowing down economic activities and taking a heavy toll on small businesses, which depend solely on cash transactions.
The Director CPPE, Dr. Muda Yusuf, disclosed this while speaking with journalists on the impact of the scarcity of cash that is running into two months, calling on government to do something about the situation in other to avoid suffering of the long term negative effects.
Yussuf noted that the move is really affecting those in rural area, as well as taking a huge toll on the agricultural sector as a strategic constituent of the economy, because of it contributions to job creation, economic inclusion and diversification.
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“So, it is a major issue and we thought that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) would relax these things now that the presidential election has come and gone, perhaps, the CBN is still waiting for the governorship election, because the main agenda from what I can see is that it is just ensure that money is not used for the election,” he said.
He added that the damage is far higher than whatever benefit people might want to ascribe to it, noting that it will drag down the gross domestic product (GDP), leading to the contraction of the economy and job losses.
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The CPPE boss argued that CBN cannot arbitrarily cut the amount of cash in the economy, saying it has to be based on clear economic principles and empirical study, by relating the amount of cash to the size of the economy as well as the total money supply.
