The Central Bank of Nigeria has stressed that despite the challenges with the country’s banking infrastructure, the cashless policy will help boost banking transactions and loan services for Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises.
CBN Director of Banking Supervision, Haruna Bala Mustapha, disclosed this at a recent virtual event titled “Harnessing the Benefits of Cashless Policy on Credit Allocation in a Developing Nation”.
He explained that the overall essence of the cashless Policy was never to eliminate cash “but to reduce the use of cash and encourage electronic payments using electronic channels.”
Mustapha, who Mr Adeniyi Adekunle represented, said maintaining a cash-laden economy such as Nigeria’s case is complex.
He said the cashless Policy has largely promoted transparency, ease of business, and access to a loan for MSMEs, as was the emergency of New Fintech banks competing heavily with the mainstream banks.
“We see that it enables faster and easier payment; you can do online transactions from the comfort of your home.
“We are not there yet, but we are working with our payment solution providers to improve the payment gateway to cope with the increased volume”, he said.