Cash Scarcity: Traders Resort to Selling on Credit, as PoS Merchants Hike Charges by 100 Percent

The cash scarcity issue sparked by the now-postponed January 31, 2023, deadline for the phasing away of old naira notes has continued to take its toll on Yaba people, even as the situation has taken a new dimension.

YabaCity’s correspondent, who spoke to a trader at Yaba Market, reports that traders have started giving out their goods on credit to worthy customers, so as to avoid loss. This follows the inability of customers to have access to cash, even as online transactions are either failing or taking days to reflect.

She said, “I have to give my customers goods on credit. If I don’t know you, I cannot give you on credit. The problem is that there is no cash. The charge to withdraw has risen by over 100 per cent, and even bank transfers are not working.”

When asked why she has decided to take this risk, she said she risks having her goods expire or rot away if she doesn’t sell them, insisting that it would be better to have her customers indebted to her than for her goods to go bad in her shop.

She also raised concerns that her customers are not comfortable making online or USSD transfers as according to her, they do not want their monies to go missing or having to go to the banks to seek reversal.

The money situation has become so bad that even PoS merchants that have direct links with banks now say they have no money to operate with, while the few that have cash either charge exorbitant rates or sell it.

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