Monies in dormant accounts susceptible to fraud — Cardoso
By Esther Agbo
The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Olayemi Cardoso, has warned that funds in dormant bank accounts are vulnerable to fraudulent activities.
This statement was made after the 296th meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) in Abuja, where a further increase in the benchmark interest rate to 26.75 percent was announced.
Recently, the CBN directed financial institutions to transfer funds from dormant accounts, unclaimed balances, and other financial assets to its custody for safekeeping.
The aim, according to the apex bank, is to identify and reunite these funds with their rightful owners, manage them in a standardised manner, and establish clear procedures for reclaiming these assets.
Cardoso highlighted that dormant accounts are particularly prone to fraudsters who may impersonate account holders to steal funds.
He emphasised that the new policy ensures these monies are safeguarded by the CBN at no cost to the beneficiaries.
The funds will be managed by the CBN and returned to the rightful owners along with any accrued income once claimed.
He said, “The policy and the directive are meant to ensure that all those monies come to the central bank for safekeeping and it is at zero cost to the beneficiaries.
“All that will happen is that the central bank will manage the money within our possession and when the rightful owner surfaces, the money is returned plus whatever income is accrued to you.”
During the MPC meeting, Cardoso also discussed the need for a clear exit strategy regarding the recently announced duty waiver for food imports.
He said, “In addition, the committee expressed optimism about the recent stop-gap measures by the Federal Government to bridge the food supply deficit.
In particular, the 150-day duty-free import window for food commodities (maize, husked brown rice, wheat and cowpeas), amongst others, will moderate domestic food prices. It is noteworthy that these measures will not lead to a direct injection of liquidity into the economy to cause further inflation.
“While the measure is a welcome development and may prove effective in the short run, it is expedient that it be implemented with a defined exit strategy to avert a possible rollback of the recent gains in domestic food production.
“To support these initiatives, the Bank is already engaging development finance institutions like the Bank of Industry to ensure adequate support for industries with a focus on small and medium-scale enterprises.”
Regarding Nigeria’s economic outlook, on the gross domestic product of the country growth projection, Cardoso noted that the “Real GDP (year-on-year) grew by 2.98 percent in the first quarter of 2024, compared with 3.46 percent in the fourth quarter of 2023, driven by both the oil and non-oil sectors.”
“Staff forecasts, however, suggest that the domestic economy will grow by 3.38 percent in 2024, while the IMF has projected growth at 3.1 percent in 2024. As of July 18, 2024, external reserves stood at $37.05bn, compared with $34.70bn as of end-June 2024. This represents 11 months of import cover for goods and services.”
Meanwhile, analysts at Afrinvest expressed concerns over the CBN’s optimism regarding the 150-day duty-free import window’s ability to curb food inflation.
They argued that without addressing high logistics costs driven by elevated energy prices and insecurity, the policy’s impact would be minimal and short-lived.
Additionally, they noted the absence of a formal model to ensure that beneficiaries of the duty-free window sell the staple items at fair prices across the country.
