Banks’ borrowings from the Standing Lending Facility (SLF) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) increased year-on-year  (YoY)  by 466 percent to N268.3 billion as at end of October 2023 from N47.35 billion as at October  2022 reflecting the increase in currency outside banks.

The apex bank has two short-term lending windows for banks and merchant banks namely, SLF and Repurchase (Repo) lending.

CBN Money and Credit Statistics data showed that currency outside banks stood at N2.35 trillion as at September 2023 having risen by 195 percent since January 2023 when it declined to N792.18 billion due to the redesign of the N200, N500 and N1000 notes.

However, further details of the statistics from the CBN Financial data also showed that banks’ deposits in the CBN Standing Deposit Facility (SDF) increased YoY by 465 percent to N5.29 trillion as at October ending of 2023 from N935 billion as at October 2022.

Meanwhile, the CBN’s foreign exchange sales to Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM), Small and Medium Enterprise (SMEs) and Invisibles declined  YoY by 121 percent to $2.92 billion in the second quarter of 2023 (Q2’23) from $3.7 billion in Q2’22.

This was contained in the CBN quarterly statistical bulletin for June 2023.

Breakdown of foreign exchange sales in the months comprising Q2’23 showed that the apex bank sold $1.2 billion in April.

In May, foreign exchange sales fell by 15.8 percent to $736.98 million and increased by 27 percent to $939.39 million in June.