After devaluing the naira and allowing it to trade more freely, the Central bank of Nigeria (CBN) earlier this week announced the removal of cash withdrawal restrictions on domiciliary accounts.
The new guidelines allow individuals to withdraw or transfer up to $10,000 daily from their domiciliary accounts, with no limitations on inflows or wired transfers. While the apex bank says removing the cap on deposits, together with the devaluation, will improve the supply of dollars, enhance customer confidence and ensure more stability in the market, Nigerians however do not share the sentiment.
In a series of tweets, some Nigerians argued that simply removing the cap will not improve supply of forex but the CBN allowing naira cards to pay for international transactions would have more impact.
While many believe that would make more impact, the apex bank has been silent about it.
Some also complained that access to dollars was not as much of a problem alleging that politicians have always been prioritised over the common man to access forex and the newly increased limit just means that politicians will have more forex and the cycle would continue.
Questions have also risen over how Bureau de change (BDC) operators got tens and hundreds of liquid forex, allegedly from banks on a daily basis. While a higher percentage of Nigerians use forex for mobile transactions, the CBN’s new cap may or may not impact them at all.