Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has kicked off its ‘cashless Lagos’ project, introducing limits on how much paper money people can withdraw and deposit, in a bid to encourage the transition to electronic payment methods.
Last year, the central bank set out a range of policies designed to wean the country off expensive and risky cash in favour of electronic money, arguing that the dominance of paper has big cash management, security and money laundering implications.
Lagos State is acting as the testing ground for the policy, and citizens will now face a daily cumulative limit of N150,000 for cash withdrawals and deposits with corporations told to stick to a limit of N1000,000.
However, the charges levied for exceeding these amounts will not come into force until 31 March even as governing concern and confusion over the plans, with the (CBN) also issuing a statement clarifying that it is trying to reduce, not eliminate, paper money.
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