The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has decreased the weekly cash withdrawal limit for individuals to 100,000 Nigerian naira ($225) from 2.5 million naira ($5,638).
“The maximum cash withdrawal per week via automated teller machine shall be 100,000 Naira subject to a maximum of 20,000 Naira ($45) cash withdrawal per day.” – Central Bank of Nigeria
Only denominations of 200 Naira and less will be loaded into ATMs.
The move is part of a policy intended to curb counterfeiting and discourage ransom payments to kidnappers. The decision is also meant to bring more Nigerians into the banking system, in a country where the majority remain unbanked and are always doing transactions in cash.
“N2.73 trillion ($4.9 billion) out of the N3.23 trillion ($5.7 billion) in circulation exists outside the vault of the commercial banks. Evidently, currency in circulation has more than doubled since 2015, rising from N1.46 trillion ($2.6 billion) in December 2015 to N3.23 trillion ($5.7 billion) as of September 2022,” Central Bank Governor, Emefiele, said in November 2022.
The weekly limit for businesses has also been reduced to 500,000 naira ($1,128) from the current daily limit of three million naira ($6,766). However in compelling circumstances, individuals and businesses could withdraw a maximum of five million naira ($11,277) and 10 million naira ($22,553) respectively once a month, it added.
CBN warned commercial lenders against violating the new cash limits which it said were in line with its policy to promote cashless transactions.
“Withdrawals above these limits shall attract processing fees of five percent and 10 percent, respectively,” the CBN said.
The announced restrictions are a follow-up to the new notes introduced by the bank in November 2022 to address corruption and the excess use of cash. According to the bank, both interventions will take effect in January 2023.
Part of the CBN’s strategy to drive down cash usage is to increase the adoption of the eNaira digital wallet that was launched in October 2021. Only one million Nigerians have downloaded the wallet since it was introduced with CBN vowing to increase sensitization efforts.
‘From today, we are going to carry out this sensitization program through all the nooks and crannies of this country until eNaira is widely accepted,’ an official said during the platform’s 1-year anniversary celebration in late October 2022.
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