The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) concluded its two-day meeting in Abuja on Thursday, retaining key monetary interest rates.
Specifically, with all the 11 members of the committee voting in concurrence, the MPC retained the MPR benchmark rate at 14 percent and retained the asymmetric corridor at +200 and -500 basis points around the MPR, while the CRR is retained at 22.5 percent, with the liquidity ratio at 30 percent.
The Central Bank Governor and Chairman of the committee, Godwin Emefiele, who briefed journalists at the end of the meeting in Abuja, said that the hold position of the members was an expression of confidence in the policy regime given the gradual improvement in both output growth and price stability.
He said: “A hold position is an expression of confidence in the policy regime given the gradual improvement in both output growth and price stability.
“On this premise, the downward risk to growth and upside risk to inflation appears contained”, Emefiele added.
The apex bank has kept the MPR at 14 percent for more than two years as part of its monetary strategies to curb inflation, which has persisted above authorities’ target band of 6 and 9 percent.
Only yesterday, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported a marginal thaw in the inflation rate, declining to 11.26 percent in October, down from the 11.28 percent reported in the preceding month.
