CBN bans use of Naira ATM debt and credit card abroad. Some term it, ‘restriction of use of Naira debt and credit card overseas’.
THE Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Monday gave an ultimatum to commercial banks to stop their customers from using their debit and credit cards outside the country.
Following this current development, banks have started to communicate to customers through emails, assuring them that it is just a “temporary measure”.
Irene, one of our readers after reading the mail sent to him commented here on our site, “today i received an mail saying from first of January there will be no use of ATM cards outside of Nigeria”
Some few months, CBN ban deposit of foreign currency into domiciliary account; the latest now is NO use of Naira ATM debt or credit card outside Nigeria.
According to sunnewsonline, ‘The directive, which takes effect from January 1, 2016, will no doubt affect access to foreign online retailers. The measure is seen as part of Federal Government’s efforts to obstruct the flow of foreign exchange out of the country following the intense pressure on the naira in the past week, crossing an all time high of over N280 to the dollar.
Already, the naira on Friday strengthened against the dollar after weeks of free fall at the parallel market, gaining N10 to exchange at N270 to a dollar.
The development, which has created huge forex debts with banks’ international financial partners, has forced many DMBs to stop their customers from using their Automatic Teller Machine cards abroad.
The apex bank spent billions of dollars propping up the currency since it fixed the exchange rate in February and tightened trading rules to curb speculation.
It is not clear how many people that will be affected by the latest measure but sources confirmed that Nigerians who travel abroad regularly and use their local cards for shopping and other transactions may be affected.
Some top-end shops in London have signs in Hausa to cater for the large number of Nigerian customers. Already, Diamond Bank and Standard Chartered have emailed their customers notifying them of the ban.
Accordingly, those customers can no longer use the cards in the United Arab Emirates, China and other African countries apart from Nigeria.
Diamond Bank message reads: “Due to the current FX market realities, please be informed that your naira debit card has been restricted for usage in UAE, China and African countries’.
Personally, I know this will happen. What do you expect when there is a forceful fix in currency exchange rate in already inflated economy ?
Please most of are student schooling in Ghana and there’s no source of income when this is done please there should be a measure to save us this problem.thanks
na me say make dollar rise??? abeg make una leave people make them do their thing ooo.