Senate Orders Upward Review Of CBN Cash withdrawal Limits

Senate Orders Upward Review Of CBN Cash withdrawal Limits

Senators were divided Wednesday over the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) plan to limit cash withdrawals by individuals to N100,000 and corporate bodies to N500,000 per week beginning January 9, 2023, citing timing concerns.

Senators who spoke out against the proposed policy said Nigeria was not ready for it because the rural people would suffer, describing it as nonsensical, vague, nebulous, and anti-people, and warning that it could spark a mass revolt in rural areas across the country.

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The Senate has issued a new order to the CBN regarding the cash withdrawal policy, requesting that the apex bank raise the proposed N100,000 per week for individuals and N500,000 per week for businesses.

The Senate has charged its Committee on Banking, Insurance, and Other Financial Institutions, led by Senator Uba Sani, APC, Kaduna Central, with aggressive oversight of the Bank’s commitment to flexible adjustment of the withdrawal limit and reporting the results to the Senate on a regular basis.

The Senate, on the other hand, backed the CBN’s ongoing implementation of transformational payments and financial industry initiatives in accordance with its mandate under the CBN Act.

Resolutions passed by the Senate on Wednesday followed the adoption of the report of Banking, Insurance, and Other Financial Institutions following a heated debate by Senators on the proposed policy following the Chairman’s presentation.

In his presentation of the report, Senator Uba Sani argued that the planned Cash  Withdrawal Limits was well conceived by the CBN for transformation of the Nation’s economy and that the action falls within the  mandate of the Apex bank as provided for in section 2(d) and 47 of its extant Act.

According to him, the implementation of the Cashless policy in 6 states resulted in reduction in the cost of currency management by 15.20% from N36 97 billion to N31.35 billion between 2013 and 2014. The trend however reversed in 2014 following the suspension of cash deposit charges in the six states currency handing cost increasing by 17.20% between 2014 and 2015 following the suspension. The cost of currency management has been on the increase since then, Total cost of currency management for 10 months to end October 2022 was N47.25 billion.