INTERPLAY OF MACRO-ECONOMIC POLICIES AND SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA

Abstract

Macro-economies encompass aggregate such as total employment, national income, national output, total investment, consumption, savings, general price level, wage level and cost structures while macroeconomics policies are designed to proffer solution to the problems that might emanate from these aggregates. Monetary policy is one of the tools that is used to achieve this through the financial institutions of a country. In Nigeria, Cashless policy was formulated over two decades ago in order to ensure sound financial system and economic stability but yet to be fully implemented. As a result of the slow implementation of this policy, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) came up with directives to all the deposit money banks (DMBs) to go and decongest their banking halls. As part of the efforts of the regulatory authority to implement cashless policy and reduce cash in circulation, naira redesign was introduced during the last quarter of 2023 with 90–day ultimatum for Nigerians to deposit all their old currencies to their Bankers but the exercise was abortive. This paper focused on the monetary policy of the Federal government of Nigeria particularly the cashless policy and the extent of its implementation since its formulation in 2012. The data used are purely secondary data from Central bank of Nigeria websites, extant literatures, Bulletins, Journals and Newspapers. The result showed that the policy is gradually yielding desired results despite its slow implementation as the economy has begun to witness ease of doing business, digital payment system, financial inclusion of the underserved, job creation etc. As of 2024, 36% of adult were financially excluded, an improvement upon what it used to be in the previous years.