The Central Bank of Nigeria may bow to mounting pressure and contract the printing of the redesigned N1,000, N500 and N200 notes to foreign contractors in the coming days in order to boost the circulation of the currency.

It was gathered that this had become imperative as sources said the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Plc, which had been responsible for the printing of the naira, appeared to lack the capacity to meet the demand for the new notes.

This is as the National Council of State advised the apex bank to print more naira notes or re-circulate the old notes, which it had mopped up from circulation, in order to ease the pressure on hapless Nigerians, who had been suffering from the scarcity of the new notes.

A top banker on Friday anonymously said that information available to him indicated that the Mint had succeeded in printing N500bn worth of the new N1,000, N500 and N200 notes and might not have the capacity to do more than that at the moment.

He also said it is obvious that what has been printed is not enough asking how they can withdraw about N2.1tn from circulation and only print N500bn to replace it and also stating that the NSPMC does not have the capacity to print more than N500bn. He went on saying the Mint’s current capacity, to print N2tn will take about a year and that even the N500bn printed has been hijacked by politicians, especially governors.

However, an official of the CBN, who pleaded that his identity should be concealed, said there was no problem with the supply of the new notes by the NSPMC, adding that it was a deliberate policy to print limited amounts in order to encourage Nigerians to embrace other means of transaction other than cash.

The Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, who spoke with journalists shortly after the meeting, insisted that there was no need to rush in implementing the new naira policy. He said other economies globally had transitioned into new notes within a year.