THE Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will issue new coins and notes next year to ease the process of making payments and take account of years of inflation, officials said on Wednesday. After two decades of falls in the value of the national currency, the naira, the highest denominated note in circulation in 1999 was the 50 naira, worth around 50 cents. This forced people wanting to pay for anything of significant value to carry around huge and unwieldy wads of money and hindered trade, the new civilian government said in 1999. Over the past two years, a new range of notes have been introduced – the 100, 200 and 500 naira. From next year, coins will be introduced to replace the lowest nominated five naira notes, CDB deputy governor Mahey Rasheed said late Tuesday. The CBN has plans in the longer term to also introduce a 1 000 naira note, worth around $10. – AFP