24th May, 2023
By Kazeem Ugbodaga
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Wednesday hiked interest rate from 18 percent to 18.5 percent in a bid to stem rising inflation.
CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele disclosed this at a news conference in Abuja.
He said the CBN’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) raised the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) by 50 basis points from 18.0% to 18.5%.
He said the apex bank retained Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) at 32.5%, Liquidity Ratio (LR) at 30.0% and Asymmetric Corridor at +100/-700 basis points around the MPR.
According to Emefiele, the current trend in price development would continue to be monitored by the bank with greater collaboration with fiscal authority to address the drivers of inflation.
The CBN had increased the MPR from 11.5 per cent earlier last year to 18 per cent in March this year across six consecutive rate hikes.