Nigeria banks ration dollars as regulator signals stopping sales

Bloomberg

Nigerian lenders cut the dollar spending limits on local currency cards to free more resources to fund imports after the central bank signaled it will stop foreign-exchange sales to banks.
United Bank for Africa Plc stopped the use of naira card to withdraw dollars from automated teller machines outside the country or make international payments at point of sale devices. Zenith Bank Plc said it “temporarily suspended” the same transactions on ATM and POS devices. It cut spending limit on web transactions using naira cards to $20 a month from $100, citing “today’s economic realities” in a note to customers. First Bank of Nigeria Ltd. set the limits on its naira Mastercard and naira credit card to $50 monthly.
UBA’s plan is to cut down on those transactions that would require it to start looking for foreign-exchange, Chiugo Ndubisi, executive director said at an investor call in Lagos. “We want to encourage as much as possible situations where customers are able to access dollars that they have deposited in banks through their domiciliary accounts,” Ndubisi said.
A spokesman for Zenith Bank didn’t pick calls or reply text messages seeking comment.
The Central Bank of Nigeria said last month it will stop selling foreign currency to lenders by the end of the year to encourage them to source their own dollars and also support government’s target to lure $200 billion of inflows yearly by 2025. The regulator has struggled to fulfill its dollar obligations to portfolio investors since 2020 after oil prices collapsed.