As economic hiccups continue to reduce purchasing power, and consumptions across all sectors of the economy, disposable income has shrunk with panic withdrawals from currency traders.
The charges imposed by money deposit banks and Point of Sales (PoS) on Nigerians who make use of their services for cash withdrawals is cutting into their purchasing power while putting more households in precarious conditions and biting harships.
Currently, PoS operators charge their customers an average of N2,000 on every N10,000 withdrawal. Similarly, most money deposit banks have programmed their ATMs to dispense only N1,000 and N2,000 per withdrawal to non-customers to charge N35 per on every withdrawal.
Against the backdrop of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) monetary policy of redesigning N1000, N500 and N200 notes to control excessive cash in the economy, consumers across the country are currently experiencing untold hardship as a result of the apex bank’s inability to inject the amount of new notes commensurate with the old notes, which has almost been completely withdrawn from the economy.
In addition, the unavailability of fuel in rural and urban areas has plunged an average consumer in double jeopardy.
The ongoing crisis has, in no small measure, affected person-to-person, person-to-business and business-to-business transactions across Nigeria.