Banks cut limits for dollar spendings

Commercial Banks across the country are reducing the thresholds for the amount individuals can spend abroad in order to avert hitches that may arise from foreign currency settlement, bankers said on Wednesday.

Efforts are in top gear at the central bank to shore up dollar reserves, which Reuters said were 16% lower than they were a year ago after COVID-19 spurred a free fall in the price of oil, Nigeria’s principal foreign exchange earner.

In the month that just went by, the apex bank issued a circular, directing oil and gas firms in the country to sell forex to no one else but the bank.

Read also: Private sector support for CBN-led campaign against COVID-19 hits N15 billion

Fidelity bank disclosed it would reduce its limit from $3,000 to $1,000 starting from 1^st April.

Providus Bank, one of the recently licensed commercial banks, also announced to customers it would peg its limit at $1,000.

Last week, Nigeria’s biggest lender by market capitalisation, Guaranty Trust Bank lowered its threshold from $3,000 to $1,500 while Zenith Bank followed suit, cutting its to $1,000 from $3,000.

Stanbic IBTC has also pegged the maximum daily withdrawal on its card at $300.

The Naira reached its record low level at the parallel and over-the-counter markets after the Central Bank of Nigeria weakened the Naira and suspended sales of forex to street Bureaux de Change.

 

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