By Chijioke Ohuocha
ABUJA (Reuters) – Nigerian banks plan to reduce the amount customers can spend abroad using debit cards on Monday, two lenders said, as banks try to limit foreign currency settlement risk.
The country is facing dollar shortages because of the sharp fall in the price of oil, Nigeria’s main export, and domestic banks are trying to avoid transactions with hard currency.
Stanbic IBTC Bank
Another top tier lender Zenith Bank
“This review is in response to today’s economic realities,” Zenith said in a notice, advising clients to request prepaid dollar cards.
Other lenders – Ecobank
Such moves have previously been at the behest of the central bank, but it was not clear if the regulator was behind the latest action. The central bank did not respond to a request for comment.
The bank is battling to conserve dollar reserves that are down 19% from a year ago. Last week it depreciated the currency on the official market
Bankers told Reuters that it now takes more than six months to settle foreign lines of credit.
Nigeria is yet to resume forex sales to retail currency traders after it banned international travel as part of a lockdown measure to slow the spread of the coronavirus that has killed 778 people and infected more than 36,000.
(Reporting by Chijioke Ohuocha; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)