By John Ikani
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has agreed to mint the Gambian Dalasi.
This is as the governor of the Central Bank of the Gambia, Buah Saidy, submitted a proposal to that effect when he met with Nigeria’s CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele on Tuesday.
Accepting the proposal, Emefiele said Nigeria has a lot of capacity in currency printing, adding that the nation been minting since the 1960s.
“We are willing to assist in printing your currency and we can be extremely competitive in terms of cost,” Emefiele said.
On its part, the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company Plc said it is ready if both parties come to a deal.
Speaking earlier the Gambian Central Bank Governor said his country is running very low on currency and wants to learn how to manage their currency need annually leveraging Nigeria’s wealth of knowledge and experience.
According to him, The Gambia placed an order for two years currency minting deal abroad but they are considering also minting from Nigeria if Nigeria is willing.
The Gambia at a glance
The Republic of Gambia is one of the smallest countries in West Africa surrounded by the republic of Senegal on the northern, eastern and southern sides, and bounded on the Atlantic Ocean
Agricultural production is the main economy activity in the Gambia but has declined throughout the 1990’s as a result of several factors including poor rainfall distribution, weak marketing infrastructure, lack of access to credit (especially for the youths and women) and a limited resource base.
