Cash held outside Nigeria’s banking system declined by N104.76 billion between February and April 2026. This follows the Central Bank of Nigeria’s decision to cut interest rates at its first Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting of the year.

Figures obtained from the CBN’s money and credit statistics revealed that currency outside banks dropped from N5.19 trillion in February 2026, the month the Monetary Policy Committee reduced the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) to 26.5%, to N5.08 trillion in April 2026.

The decline represents a 2.02% reduction within the two-month period after the rate cut.

The CBN did not publish currency data for March 2026, making a month-on-month comparison impossible.

Currency in circulation also declined by N63.46 billion from N5.71 trillion in February to N5.65 trillion in April, indicating a moderation in cash liquidity across the economy after the MPC decision.

Further analysis showed that the proportion of total currency circulating outside bank vaults declined slightly during the review period.

• Currency outside banks accounted for 90.03% of total currency in circulation in April 2026, lower than the 90.87% recorded in February 2026 and 94.33% in December 2025.
• This indicates that a slightly larger share of cash remained within the banking system after the February rate cut.
• Compared with December 2025, currency outside banks declined by N324.16 billion from N5.41 trillion to N5.08 trillion, representing a 5.99% drop.

The movement points to tighter liquidity retention within the banking system despite the reduction in benchmark interest rates.

Despite the recent moderation, currency levels remained significantly higher than the corresponding period last year.