Nigerian banks drop naira card transactions abroad

Adebayo Obajemu

Nigerian Banks have announced temporary suspension of overseas Automated Teller Machine (ATM) naira card transactions to preserve foreign exchange reserves.

The CBN rate sheet showed the naira exchanges at N430/$1 at the Investors’ and Exporters (I&E) forex window while black market rate was at N710/$, creating N280/$ premium between both rates.

Banks’ decision followed consistent dollar scarcity and challenges faced by manufacturers and other real sector operators in sourcing foreign exchange from the economy.

Banks were increasingly finding it difficult to fund their foreign-currency denominated services, especially online forex transactions and overseas ATM withdrawals, as well as PoS usage overseas by customers.