Share!
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), on Tuesday, has raised the monetary policy rate (MPR), which measures interest rate, from 16.5 percent to 17.5 percent to rein in inflation “aggressively”.
The decision of the CBN came after a gradual drop in the inflation rate, which decelerated to 21.34 percent in December of 2022, slightly down from a 17-year peak of 21.47 percent in November 2022, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The monetary policy rate (MPR) is the baseline interest rate in an economy, every other interest rate used within an economy is built on it.
Godwin Emefiele, governor of the apex bank, announced the development to journalists after the committee’s meeting at the CBN headquarters in Abuja
Prime Lending Rate also rose from 13.17 per cent in November to 13.85 per cent in December of the same year.
Emefiele said the MPC raised the monetary policy rate by 100 basis points to 17.5%, it kept the asymmetric corridor at +100/-700 basis points around the MPR.
The MPC retained Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) by 32.5% while the liquidity ratio was kept at 30%.
The CBN also said its January 31, 2023, deadline for the validity of the old N200, N500 and N1,000 notes remains.
