Cash Limit Policy: Suspend Charges On Transfers, Expert Urges CBN

Akin Ogunsola, an economist has advised the Central Bank of Nigeria to suspend the N6 Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) code charges paid during transfer by Nigerians.

Ogunsola gave the advise during a program on Arise TV monitored by THE WHISTLER.

The advise is coming on the heels of the recent cash limit policy of the CBN to encourage the cashless policy of the Bank.

The CBN had said “The maximum cash withdrawal over the counter (OTC) by individuals and corporate organizations per week shall henceforth be N100,000 and N500.000 respectively. Withdrawals above these limits shall attract processing fees of five per cent and 10 per cent respectively

“The maximum cash withdrawal per week via Automated Teller Machine (ATM) shall be N100.000 subject to a maximum of N20,000 cash withdrawals per day.

The economist said the new CBN cash limit policy is a “brilliant move”, adding that the CBN has not been pragmatic for years.

But he argued that the policy may affect Nigerians who may not comfortably afford the N6 USSD charge on transactions.

According to him, the policy will entrench the cashless policy of the apex bank making a number of the poor population to carry the burden of mobile banking charges.

He said “CBN should make the transfer fee free instead of the N6 that used to be on those charges in order to accommodate those that are poor.

“Nigeria has a population of 133 million poor citizens and they don’t have access to the internet or getting data in a smartphone, use of the USSD code is their best option.

“And the level of transaction these categories of people do is actually less than N100,000 a day, removal of the N6 charge will reduce the effect on the poor Nigerians.”

Ogunsola said the CBN cash limit policy policy was timely with the 2023 general election fast approaching.

The economist said the policy will strengthen the country’s economy adding there will be immediate impact on some players in the financial value chain.