Nigerians who intend to pay for international services or shop on foreign online stores using their Naira debit cards can now do so without hassles as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has lifted the restrictions.
In early 2023, under the regime of the embattled former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Godwin Emefiele, Nigerian banks were forced to suspend this service to customers because of foreign exchange (FX) supply issues.
Nigerians under the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari could not use their Naira debit cards on foreign websites, prompting the use of virtual Dollar cards as a bypass.
This development affected several people paying for cloud services, web hosting, and purchase of items on popular e-commerce platforms like Amazon, Alibaba, eBay, and others.
To solve the forex crisis, the government of President Bola Tinubu implemented the liberalisation of the FX market, allowing the market to determine the exchange rate of the Naira to the Dollar.
This policy, implemented by the central bank under the leadership of Mr Yemi Cardoso, has kept the Naira relatively stable against the Dollar in the official market within the N1,540 region and in the parallel market at N1,560.
Also, there has been a stable flow of forex into the two major market windows, apparently prompting the lifting of restrictions on the use of Naira debit cards for FX transactions.
However, the use of the domestic cards for international transactions has been limited to $1,000 per quarter, as confirmed on Friday by one of the leading lenders in Nigeria, Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank), in a message to customers.
“We are pleased to inform you that you now have a quarterly limit of $1,000 on your GTBank Naira Card to pay for all your favourite things anywhere in the world.
“Withdrawal at ATMs abroad is $500 quarterly and online and POS transactions is $1,000 quarterly.
“Kindly note that the quarterly limit of $1,000 covers all transactions, incluing TM cash withdrawals abroad, purchases on international websites, POS payments outside Nigeria, and more,” the e-mailed notice to customers, obtained by Business Post, read.