Anew Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) policy seeks to limit over-the-counter cash withdrawals by individuals and corporate entities to N100,000 and N500,000 per week, respectively.
In a circular issued by the CBN on Tuesday, the apex bank said the new directive will take effect nationwide on January 9, 2023.
Following the implementation of the policy, all cash withdrawals in excess of the abovementioned restrictions will be subject to processing costs of 5 and 10 per cent, respectively.
“The maximum cash withdrawal over the counter (OTC) by individuals and corporate organisations per week shall henceforth be N100,000 and 500,000 respectively. Withdrawals above these limits shall attract processing fees of 5 percent and 10 percent, respectively,” the letter to financial institutions reads.
“Third party cheques above N50,000 shall not be eligible for payment over the counter, while extant limits of N10,000,000 on clearing cheques still subsist.
“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.
“Only denominations of N200 and below shall be loaded into the ATMs.”
This development comes shortly after the newly redesigned N200, N500, and N1000 banknotes were launched by President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime.
Recall that the CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, in October, revealed that the apex bank had lost track of N2.7 trillion of the country’s currency currently in circulation.
The apex bank boss detailed that about 80 per cent of the country’s currency in circulation were outside the vaults of commercial banks across the country.
He lamented that Nigerians were hoarding bank notes, refusing to take them to banks.
