MPC retains Nigeria’s interest at 27.50%

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Monetary Policy Committee has retained the country’s interest rate at 27.50 percent.

It also retained the Cash Reserve Ratio of Deposit Money Banks at 50.00 per cent and Merchant Banks at 16 per cent, while the Liquidity Ratio remained at 30.00 per cent.

The announcement was made by the CBN Governor, Olayemi Cardoso, after the committee’s meeting held on May 19 and 20.

“The committee unanimously agreed to retain MPR at 27.50 percent,” he stated

Cardoso also announced that the MPC member decided to retain the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) at 50 basis points for commercial bank and 16 percent for mortgage bank, the liquidity ratio (LR) at 30 percent, and the asymmetric corridor at +500/-100 basis points around the MPR; other monetary policy decisions were retained.

He justified MPC’s decision to pause the rate hike on the easing of Nigeria’s inflation rate to 23.7 percent in April.

Recall that last week, the National Bureau of Statistics consumer price index showed that country’s inflation dropped by 23.7 percent.

In February, the MPC retained the country’s interest rate at 27.50 percent as inflation cooled off.