Yemisi Izuora
Nigerian banks have pruned disbursement of Business Travelling Allowance and Personal Travelling Allowance, BTA and PTA, following foreign exchange scarcity. Under the new arrangement individuals can now take per quarter as Business Travelling Allowance and Personal Travelling Allowance only $2,000 per quarter instead of $4,000 previously.
Also student upkeep abroad is now reduced to $1,500 per semester while school fees have been reduced to $7,500 per semester.
A statement by Nigerian banks to their customers on Monday said “in view of the limited FX supply in the industry, kindly note the following: payment of PTA/BTA is subject to a maximum of $2,000and two quarters in a year, while funds will be disbursed within the week of the trip. Customers are encouraged to apply for PTA/BTA some weeks ahead of their trip. Application for upkeep is subject to a maximum of $1,500 (or its equivalent in other currencies) per semester and limited to 2 semesters per session.Payment of school fees is subject to a maximum of $7,500 (or its equivalent in other currencies) per semester and limited to 2 semesters per session.
A minimum of 16 weeks is required for processing school fees and upkeep/maintenance, after the submission of documents along with the approved Form A at the branch. Application for Form A for school fees, student upkeep and PTA/BTA, must be processed on the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Trade Monitoring System (TRMS) and must be in line with regulatory requirements. Requests will continue to be treated on a first come, first served basis, subject to availability of FX. Ensure that your account is sufficiently funded. At the start of the foreign exchange crunch the CBN placed embargo on all Naira denominated debit card for online transaction offshore.