Politics
Reps direct CBN to suspend planned Cashless policy
The House of Representatives on Thursday directed the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to suspend the recently re-introduced cashless policy.
The House resolved to mandate the committee on banking to investigate the policy and report to the House in 4 weeks.
The decision followed a motion of urgent public importance moved by Benjamin Kalu
Recall that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) announced this week that the full implementation of the cashless policy will become effective from March 31, 2020.
The Cable reports that, 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 further 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.
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.