[mika-r]

Hier ein neuer Beitrag zu der laufenden Erweiterung der Naira Serie:

""1000 Note: From Naira to Lira?
Daily Trust (Abuja)

EDITORIAL
April, 2005

It recently came to light that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has pushed forward to July or August the introduction of the 1000 naira note earlier planned for May this year. Though no cause was cited for the postponement, we sincerely hope the apex bank is rethinking the idea in its entirety.

Ostensibly, the desire to put out a higher naira denomination is driven by a number of factors, among them presumably a requirement for a high-value medium of exchange—especially in the absence of other widely available and acceptable alternative methods of payment—and a store of value of significant worth. And whereas the CBN has said that the 1000 naira note will, among other things, help curb inflation and improve convenience, we are not persuaded that these reasons are enough to embrace a currency regime that most central bankers the world over have generally argued and acted against. Additionally, while it is true that a higher currency denomination do tend to improve convenience of conveyance and usage for the citizenry, it is also true that they aid the sort of criminal activities that government should ordinarily be curtailing. What, for instance, would be the consequences of large cash sums which can be easily concealed (and thus be difficult to trace) on the on-going anti-corruption campaign?
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Moreover, the CBN's assertion that the coming of the 1000 naira note will reduce inflation does not seem to stand up to long-established and generally accepted economic logic that tends to link the introduction of paper currencies of very high values to increased inflation. In this regard, the now rested Italian lira readily comes to mind. Indeed, without being alarmist about it, we can point to the fact that the introduction of the 100, 200 and 500 naira notes in the last few years has clearly led to increases in prices to the extent that few things can now be purchased with the 10 and five naira notes. More so, as virtually everyone knows, the one naira and 50 kobo coins have all but disappeared from use though they supposedly are still legal tender.

While the circumstances are not exactly the same, we believe the CBN will do well to take note of the findings of the United States House of Representatives' Sub-committee on Domestic and International Monetary Policy regarding the advantages and disadvantages of issuing US banknotes in denominations higher than $100 and the printing of $500 notes in particular. The subcommittee considered that higher currency denominations "could provide savings by reducing printing, processing, and transportation costs." However, the subcommittee weighed these advantages "against the concern that high-denomination banknotes could facilitate money laundering and drug trafficking," and "public policy arguments against reissuing the $500 note, particularly because any efficiency gains...would accrue not only to legitimate users of dollar notes but also to money launderers, tax evaders, and a variety of other lawbreakers who use currency in their criminal activity." To this should be added the information that similar concerns impelled the Canadian government's plan to stop issuing its $1000 banknote.
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Returning to our shores, we wish to point out that despite the prevalence of banks in the country, many people remain inclined to use high-denomination currency for savings and transactions as they have issues of ready access and long-term trust with these financial institutions. These are also some of the reasons why traders travel with bags of stupendous sums of money to conduct their businesses. There is no doubt that these existing conditions encourage the sort of violent armed robbery that has troubled the nation in recent years. Rather than curb the tendencies that give rise to this nefarious problem as the CBN seems to think, the 1000 naira has the propensity to worsen the situation.

We propose that rather than resort to a higher naira denomination, the CBN ought to support the increased use of cheques, credit cards and other non-cash alternative methods of payment that should be made widely available to enhance acceptability thereby discouraging the proclivity of Nigerians to stockpile and carry loads of cash about. These measures should be explored as an alternative to the introduction of 1000 naira note as there's the frightening possibility that if the ever higher naira value currency trend continues, we may some day end up with outrageous notes like the Italian lira which, before its retirement at the introduction of the euro in 2002, had notes of 1000, 2000, 5000, 10, 000, 50, 000, 100, 000 and 500, 000."

Quelle: http://allafrica.com/stories/200504050390.html