The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has pegged maximum over the counter (OTC) cash withdrawal per week for individuals at N100,000 and N500,000 for corporate organisations.
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The circular read: “Further to the launch of the redesigned Naira notes by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, on Wednesday, November 23, 2022 and in line with the Cashless policy of the CBN, all deposit money banks (DMBs) and other financial institutions (OFls) are hereby directed to note and comply with the following:
"The maximum cash withdrawal over the counter (OTC) by individuals and corporate organizations per week shall henceforth be N100,000 and N500,OOO respectively. Withdrawals above these limits shall attract processing fees of 5% and 10%, respectively.
“Third party cheques above N50,OOO shall not be eligible for payment over the counter, while extant limits of N10,000,000 on clearing cheques still subsist.”
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The circular further stated that, the maximum cash withdrawal per week via Automated Teller Machine (ATM) shall be N100,000 subject to a maximum of N20,000 cash withdrawal per day.”
Also “only denominations of N200 and below shall be loaded into the ATMs.”
The maximum cash withdrawal via point of sale (POS) terminal shall be N20,000 daily, the circular further stated.
The circular further stated that in “compelling circumstances, not exceeding once a month, where cash withdrawals above the prescribed limits is required for legitimate purposes, such cash withdrawals shall not exceed and for individuals and corporate organisations, respectively, and shall be subject to the referenced processing fees in (I) above, in addition to enhanced due diligence and further information requirements.”
The central bank of Nigeria is changing up the entire system to try to boost the economy and the dwindling naira.
I personally do not fancy the idea of limiting how much cash withdrawals one can make within certain periods of time and putting a low cap on that.
This would adversely affect SMEs around the country and while it would push more people to exchange digitally through cashless means, it would have lots of negative sides
How the policy would impact the economy and more importantly the citizens would be seen next month.
one of the worst things you can do when your currency is on the verge of collapse. You don't stop people from withdrawing for no reason whatsoever. The process of withdrawal and deposit is where the money is at, so by cutting off one end of the chain they are just putting a hamper on the circulation of their currency. Less money from withdrawals-less money to spend. Less money spent, more money kept and inflation will come in.
That may be more of a political motive than to solve the current problems of the Nigerian government. Restricting withdrawal will cause heavy damage to businesses and have no effect on controlling inflation. In order to control inflation, deposit interest rates must be increased to attract people to deposit money in banks, thereby controlling cash flow, not restricting withdrawals.
Agreed. You have to inspire people to actually spend their money one way or another, not have them lose trust of the bank. I don't see the point in antagonizing businesses as well. They are the ones that are fostering the economy. What is going in Nigeria, why is everything their government doing there backwards of what they claim it to be?