By Saio Marrah
The Speaker of Parliament Dr. Abass Bundu says the Bank Governor Professor Kaifala Kallon should explain to lawmakers the reported limitations placed on cash withdrawals at commercial banks across the country.
No date was given for the appearance of Prof. Kallon but the Speaker on Monday 18th July 2022 said he could be expected to meet with Parliamentarians even if it should be at the Committee level.
Leader of the main opposition All People’s Congress (APC) party Chernor Maju Bah also stated that the Bank Governor should not just be explaining on traditional media, but should engage lawmakers in relation to the growing public concerns arising from the banking system since the new redenominated currency went into circulation on the 1st July 2022.
Member of Parliament representing Constituency 050 in Tonkolili District, Hassan Abdul Sesay also expressed concern for what he claimed is a shortage of cash in the banks.
Sesay said he sent a cheque “for a capital project “to the Sierra Leone Commercial Bank for withdrawal, but it was returned to him on the grounds that he had exhausted the amount he was supposed to withdraw for the week.
Leader of Government Business in Parliament, Mathew Sahr Nyuma representing Constituency 019 Kenema district however disputed that, saying he was able to withdraw recently 10 Million Leones equivalent to the old denomination.
The Bank Governor has told the media that following the introduction of the new currency, the central bank was alarmed to learn that 800 Billion Leones equivalent to the old currency was withdrawn from commercial banks just two weeks after the new currency was introduced.
He said after carefully studying the situation, they decided to institute a limit on the amount of money that individuals and certain institutions can withdraw from banks, per week.
He said individuals can take out cash from their accounts of not more than 30 million Leones and for institutions 100 million Leones old currency value, within a week.
Foreign Missions, International NGOs, Ministries Departments, and Agencies have been exempted from the limitations.
He also said for certain institutions that fall within the restrictions requiring larger amounts of money, would have to write to the bank of Sierra Leone with supporting documents, confirming the reasons for such withdrawals. He said follow-ups could be employed to make sure due process was followed.
He defended the central bank’s action which he said was to discourage suspected hoarding of the new currencies which otherwise could lead to a shortage of cash in circulation as experienced sometime last year.
Prof. Kallon said bank restrictions of that nature were not unique to other African countries which he said have employed similar measures.
The Leone currency was redenominated which saw the removal of the last three zeros. A new higher denomination of twenty Leones has been introduced along for the first time in the country.
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