The massive withdrawal of cash from Deposit Money Banks by politicians and their associates in preparation for the general elections has led to shortage of cash across bank branches in the country.
It was gathered on Thursday that several billions of naira had left the banking system between December last year and this month as different political parties spent huge amounts on their campaigns.
“Many banks are having it rough in terms of liquidity. Huge deposits running into several billions of naira have been withdrawn for election campaigns by politicians. This has affected some of the banks. So, liquidity issue is of utmost concern right now,” a top official of a tier one bank told our correspondent.
According to other sources close to the situation, some lenders have had to postpone some obligations due to liquidity problems.
“Banks have been calling and pleading with some investors not to terminate maturing fixed-income debts as a result of liquidity problems; some bankers are also not lending not necessarily because of uncertainties in the economy, but due to lack of liquidity,” a banker added.
A number of politicians, he said, had also sold their properties below the real values in a bid to raising funds for campaigns.
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