CBN Directs Banks To Prioritise School Fees

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) directed all banks authorised to deal in the foreign exchange market to give priority to customers seeking foreign currencies for the payment of school fees, students’ maintenance allowances, as well as other business and personal allowances for overseas travels.

In a statement by the director of corporate communications department, Alhaji Muazu Ibrahim, the bank assured forex users that it would continue to meet all their legitimate demands.
The CBN noted that forex demand for invisible transactions would be met at the official/interbank exchange rate.
According to the bank the list of invisible transactions includes school fees remittances, student maintenance allowances, basic travel allowance, personal travel allowance and medical bills.
The statement said: “The Central Bank of Nigeria wishes to inform the general public that all legitimate requests for foreign currencies for eligible transactions, normally referred to as ‘invisibles’, such as remittances for school fees, student maintenance allowances, BTA, PTA, medical and other eligible transactions, shall be fully met at the official/interbank exchange rate. Already, all the legitimate demand for such transactions through recognised channels have so far been fully met by the CBN.”

The institution advised individuals wishing to obtain foreign currencies for such eligible transactions to approach their banks, saying that it had made adequate provisions of foreign currencies for such purposes.

“Holders of naira-denominated debit and credit cards would continue to have access to the use of their cards at Automated Teller Machines in any part of the world. This, however, would be subject to the annual limit of $50,000, noting that the ATM withdrawals would continue to be at a maximum of $300 per day,” it added.