CBN retains lending rate at 11.5%, retains others too

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

The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, disclosed this during a briefing after the first Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting for the year held in Abuja on Tuesday.

The Committee left other parameters unchanged, leaving the Cash Reserve Ratio and Liquidity Ratio at 27.5 per cent and 30 per cent respectively.

Announcing the committee’s decision, Emefiele said, “After a careful balancing of the benefits and the downside risks of the policy options, the MPC decided to hold all parameters constant, believing that a whole stance will enable the continuous permeation of current policy measures in supporting the recorded growth recovery and further boost production and productivity which will ultimately rein in inflation in the short to medium term.

“The MPC thus decided by a 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.”