While people continued to line up to get cash from banks in Shenzhen's commercial district, entrepreneurs - whose businesses are suffering - cried foul yesterday at the cap on withdrawals.
The measure was imposed by the authorities in a bid to curb money laundering and stem the flow of funds to the Hong Kong stock market.
Owners of small- and medium-sized businesses complained of the inconvenience to operations and said the Shenzhen branch of the People's Bank of China, which had issued the instructions for the cap, had not considered the consequences of its action.
All commercial banks were required to implement the caps from the beginning of this month.
Daily over-the-counter withdrawals by individual customers have been limited to 30,000 yuan. The weekly limit is 50,000 yuan and the monthly limit 200,000 yuan.
Companies can withdraw 100,000 yuan a day, 200,000 yuan a week and 500,000 yuan a month over the counter. The limit for automated tellers remains 20,000 yuan per day, but machines sometimes do not have enough cash to fulfil demand.
