The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) spent a total of N58,618.50 million to print banknotes in 2020.

This was revealed in the annual report of the apex bank’s Currency Operations Department (COD) released on Thursday.

The N58.6 billion incurred on printing of banknotes in 2020 is less than what the CBN spent in 2019.

In the report, the Bank’s total cost incurred on printing banknotes in 2019 was N75,523.50 million, indicating a decrease of N16,905.00 million or 28.84 per cent.

The total cost incurred on printing of banknotes in 2018 amounted to N64,040.78 million, compared with N49,524.96 million spent in 2017. Also, N33,374.03 million was spent printing the nation’s currency in 2016.

Cumulatively, the CBN spent N281.08 billion in five years to print banknotes for the country.

The Nigerian Security Printing & Minting (NSPM)Plc is the sole printer of the Nigerian legal tender currency. The CBN holds 89.52 per cent of the shares in the company.

The firm has an installed capacity to produce four billion pieces of banknotes per annum. According to the annual report, in 2020, a total of 2.52 billion pieces of banknotes were produced, compared with 3.05 billion pieces of banknotes in 2019.

The report stated that the CBN evacuated a total of 246,236 boxes of banknotes valued at N1,030,689.35 million, from the NSPM Plc Lagos and Abuja factories to CBN branches in 2020.