House of Reps halts CBN cashless policy

The house of representatives has asked the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to hit the brakes on the cashless policy it recently re-introduced.

At the plenary session on Thursday, the lower legislative chamber said the policy will lead to a significant decrease in credit extension by Nigerian money deposit banks.

The lawmakers also said the policy will have negative impacts on small and medium enterprises “which are clearly the engine room for growth of the economy”.

In a circular released on Tuesday, the CBN had directed all deposit money banks in the country to charge 3% processing fees for withdrawals and 2% for deposits of amounts above N500,000 for individual accounts.

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Corporate account holders will be charged 5% processing fees for withdrawals and 3% for deposits of amounts above N3 million.

The directive was, however, criticised by some Nigerians for various reasons.