Central Bank governor Godwin Emefiele has revealed that the apex bank has lost track of N2.7 trillion of the country’s currency currently in circulation.

Making this disclosure in a statement on Wednesday, the apex bank boss detailed that about 80 per cent of the country’s currency in circulation are outside the vaults of commercial banks across the country.

He lamented that Nigerians were hoarding bank notes, refusing to take them to banks.

“To be more specific, as at the end of September 2022, available data at the CBN indicate that N2.73 Trillion out of the N3.23 trillion currency in circulation, was outside the vaults of Commercial Banks across the country, and supposedly held by the public. Evidently, currency in circulation has more than doubled since 2015; rising fromN1.46 trillion in December 2015 to N3.23 trillion in September 2022,” the statement by Mr Emefiele read.

The expose comes as the apex bank announced plans to unveil new naira notes.

Mr Emefiele made the disclosure at a CBN governor’s special press briefing in Abuja, asking depositors to hit the banks to exchange their old currencies for the new ones before the January 31, 2023 expiration date.

Mr Emefiele said the move has since been approved by President Muhammadu Buhari and other stakeholders and that they were certain that the decision would positively impact the value of the naira.