Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank) has increased its monthly spending limit on the GTBank Naira Mastercard for international transactions to $200.
This is coming months after a foreign exchange (forex) crisis in Nigeria led many banks to slash their international transactions monthly limit to about $100, with some reducing it to as low as $20 per month.
For GTBank, it had reviewed its limit to $100 per month in August, less than six months after it was pegged at $3,000.
the tier-one lender wrote, “Dear customer, the monthly spending limit on your GTBank Naira Mastercard is now $200 for international transactions. Thank you for banking with us.”
This new development indicates that customers can now make payment for foreign purchases or transactions in Nigeria of up to $200 per month, which is about N75,800 in the local denomination (at N379/$1).
There are no clear indications yet if other banks will follow suit but actions of one bank especially relating to this kind of move might spur other financial institutions to take similar action in the coming days.
Nigeria’s foreign earnings took a hit on the back of the coronavirus pandemic especially from the sale of crude oil which plunged and as a result, put pressure on the local currency.
On two different occasions this year, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had to adjust the value of the Naira to the Dollar; first from N306 to N360 and then to N380, its current rate.
But with recent moves like the resumption of forex sales to Bureaux De Change (BDC) operators at a specified rate, the market has seen an injection of forex, easing the pressure on the Naira and allowing market participants clear their backlogs.
The Naira has also appreciated across the various segments of the foreign exchange market, indicating that the CBN strategy was yielding the expected positive results. Also, the nation’s foreign reserves have grown to $35.7 billion.
