Nigeria’s largest banks are reducing the amount that customers can spend on dollar transactions as an acute shortage hits Africa’s largest oil producer despite rising oil prices.
Guaranty Trust Bank Ltd., Nigeria’s second-largest bank by market value, has followed the steps of the country’s largest bank, Zenith, to reduce the monthly spending limits on international transactions on its naira MasterCard.
GT Bank in an email to customers on Friday said it was reviewing the spending limit on the naira MasterCard for international online and POS transactions to $20 monthly. That’s an 80 percent reduction from the previous limit of $100.
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The new policy takes effect on the 14th of March 2022.
Zenith Bank had also announced on Thursday, March 10, that it was temporarily suspending the usage of its naira card for international transactions and also cut spending limits for web transactions to $20 from $100 monthly.
Nigerian banks are reeling from an acute dollar shortage which is growing worse despite the rally in oil prices.
The country’s declining oil production and the rising cost of subsiding imported petroleum products has muted the gains of the oil rally while several other oil exporters benefit.
