Nigerian banks have slashed the amount of dollars for Personal Travel allowance (PTA) and Business Travel Allowance (BTA) by 50 per cent amid worsening foreign exchange crisis in the country.
Personal Travel allowance (PTA) was slashed by some banks from $4000 to $2000 and overseas school fees payment from $15,000 to $7,500 per semester.
The processing time for accessing Foreign Exchange (FX) for international school fees was reviewed upwards to 120 days from 48 hours.
In an email to the customers, the lender disclosed that the new allocation would be given to applicants twice per year as long as they fulfilled some requirements, including applying for foreign exchange requests within 14 days of the travel date.
First Bank in its notification wrote: “In view of the limited FX supply in the industry, kindly note payment of PTA/BIA IS subject to a maximum of $2,000 and two quarters in a year.
“Application for upkeep is subject to a maximum of $1,500 (or its equivalent in other currencies) per semester and limited to two 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 two 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.”
It added that customers’ “requests will continue to be treated on a first come, first served basis, subject to the availability of FX.”
Also in a message to its customers, Access Bank said: “All applications are processed and disbursed subject to FX availability, proper documentation, and provided the account to be debited is sufficiently funded to cover the Form A charge and other processing fees.”
In another development Foreign airlines trapped funds of foreign airlines have peaked $743,721,097 from $662m in January 2023, the International Air Transport Association has said.
Ifunanya Ikueze is an Engineer, Safety Professional, Writer, Investor, Entrepreneur and Educator.
