First Bank Limits Foreign Withdrawal To $20 Per Month

The overseas spending limit on First Bank of Nigeria’s naira cards has been decreased from $50 to $20 (about N10,000) per month.

The decreased spending restriction will take effect on April 1, 2022, according to First Bank, which made the announcement in an email to its customers on Thursday.

“We’ve increased the cross-border transaction limits for Naira master card, Naira credit card, our virtual card, and Visa prepaid Naira card to $20 monthly due to current market realities on foreign exchange.” The change will take effect on April 1, 2022, according to a statement from First Bank.

Customers should use the Visa Debit Multicurrency Card, Visa Prepaid (USD) Card, or Visa Gold Credit Card to enjoy transaction limits of up to $10,000, according to the bank.

It also banned the use of naira cards to withdraw cash from international ATMs.

This move comes as Africa’s largest economy continues to be hampered by a long-standing foreign currency shortfall.

In March, the Bank lowered foreign expenditure to $50, while Zenith Bank dropped its monthly international spending restriction to $20.

The United Bank of Africa (UBA) reduced the overseas spending limit on its naira card from $100 to $20 per month in February.

According to the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) daily external reserve tracker, Nigeria’s foreign reserve fell to $39.86 billion at the end of February 2022, down 0.44 percent from the previous month’s figure of $40.04 billion.

Customers could previously use their naira cards to make online purchases worth up to $100 (N50,000). Customers will now be able to spend a bit more than N10,000 per month as a result of the new improvement.