CBN retains 11.5% lending rate, CRR 27.5%

The Central Bank of Nigeria through its Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has retained the Monetary Policy Rate, otherwise called lending rate at 11.5 per cent.

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

It also retained the Cash Reserve Ratio and Liquidity Ratio at 27.5 per cent and 30 per cent respectively.

Emefiele explained that members of the MPC were of the view that given that the exit of the country from recession was fragile, any decision to tighten may reverse the fragile recovery and return the country back to recession.

He said, the “concession among the MPC members was that given that the inflation was substantially a supply side factor, there was need to continue to focus on consolidation of recovery process by taking those actions that would continue to stimulate output growth, create employment.

“At the same time, it must have an eye on efforts to moderate inflationary pressure using the current administrative measures being adopted by the bank in controlling monetary aggregates in the banking system.”