Breaking: CBN retains lending rate at 11.5%

The Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has left the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) unchanged at 11.5 per cent.

The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, disclosed this after the committee’s two-day meeting in Abuja on Tuesday.

Other parameters left unchanged are the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) and Liquidity Ratio (LR) at 27.5 per cent and 30 per cent respectively.

Announcing the committee’s decision, Emefiele said, “The MPC believes that the existing parameters have supported the growth recovery and should be allowed to continue for a little longer for consolidation to achieve the committee’s mandate of price stability conducive for growth.

“Therefore by unanimous vote, the MPC voted as follows, one, retain MPR at 11.5 per cent; retain the asymmetric corridor of +100/-700 basis points around the MPR; retain the CRR at 27.5 per cent; and retain the Liquidity Ratio at 30 per cent.

He noted that the Committee believed that tightening or losing the rates at this time would be unfavourable to the country’s economic recovery.