Nigerian commercial banks told customers on Sunday they would allow
deposits of foreign currency to be transferred abroad from their
accounts, just days after the central bank announced it was easing
restrictions on foreign cash deposits.
Africa’s biggest economy
and top oil producer has been hit hard by the drop in crude prices since
it relies on oil sales for about 95 percent of its foreign reserves.
The
central bank last week announced that it would allow commercial banks
to accept cash deposits of foreign currency, reversing a restriction
imposed last year when such deposits were banned to curb speculation.
Its
policy shift came days after International Monetary Fund head Christine
Lagarde told Nigerian lawmakers that the IMF did not support foreign
exchange restrictions.
Stanbic IBTC and Guaranty Trust Bank were
among two commercial banks which sent emails and text messages to
customers informing them that transfers of foreign cash to accounts in
other countries, which had also been prohibited, were now acceptable.
“You
can now transfer foreign currency cash deposits made into your GT Bank
domiciliary account(s) via internet banking, Mobile App or at any of our
branches nationwide, subject to a daily cumulative limit of $10,000,”
GT Bank said in an email.
The central bank’s announcement also
halted dollar sales to non-bank foreign exchange operators, a move that
leaves Nigerians struggling to find dollars on the parallel market amid
tight liquidity.
The naira NGN=D1 is pegged at around 198 to the
dollar on the official interbank market but slid to a record low of 305
on the parallel market last week amid low FX reserves.
Credit: PM NEWS
Central
bank governor Godwin Emefiele said foreign reserves in January stood at
around $28 billion compared with $37 billion in June 2014, making clear
the impact of reduced oil revenues.
Members of parliament’s upper house, the Senate, have summoned Emefiele to explain the currency’s plunge on Tuesday.
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