The monetary policy committee of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has raised the monetary policy rate (MPR), which benchmarks interest rates, to 26.75 percent — from 26.25 percent.
Olayemi Cardoso, governor of the apex bank, announced the rate adjustment on Tuesday at the end of the committee’s 296th meeting in Abuja.
Last week, Nigeria’s inflation rate rose to 34.19 percent amid the surge in food prices.
The MPR is the baseline interest rate in an economy, every other interest rate used within the economy is built on it.
The monetary policy committee retained other parameters.
Speaking at the media briefing, Cardoso said the committee members voted to hike the rate by 50 basis points to 27.75 percent, adjust the asymmetric corridor to +500 and -100 basis points around the MPR, retain the cash reserve ratio (CRR) at 45 percent, and liquidity ratio at 30 percent.
Details later…