The Central Bank of
Nigeria has said the decision of Deposit Money Banks to place a restriction on
the use of Automated Teller Machine cards abroad by bank customers is due to
scarcity of foreign exchange.
The apex bank said while
it had no powers to reverse the restriction placed by the DMBs on the use of
the ATMs abroad, the CBN was in support of the decision as it would assist in
reducing the pressure on the naira.
The Director, Monetary
Policy Department, CBN, Mr. Moses Tule, who said these in Abuja while speaking
with journalists, explained that the restriction might continue until the
country could increase its foreign exchange earnings.
He said if banks had not taken the decision to
restrict the use of the ATM cards abroad, some of them would current be
experiencing challenges meeting the overseas demand of their customers.
This, he added, would have caused huge
liabilities in the balance sheet of the banks, thus affecting their operations.
Tule said much as the CBN sympathised with
Nigerians for the sufferings they were experiencing in carrying out
transactions abroad, there was little it could do to reverse the decision of
the banks.
He said, “The limitation on the use of debit or
credit cards outside the country was not a limitation that was placed by the
CBN.
“They were restrictions that Deposit Money Banks
placed because they have to settle whatever transactions you make with your
debit cards with their corresponding banks in foreign currency. And if the
banks do not have the foreign currency to do that, then you create a liability
problem for them.”
-News
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