At its meeting in July, the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) decided to raise the benchmark interest rate by 50 basis points, or 50 pbs, to 26.75%.
By anchoring Nigeria’s rising inflation conditions, the move to raise interest rates served to ensure price stability and help stabilize shifting currency values throughout foreign exchange markets.
At the last meeting, the members of the Apex Bank Committee voted to increase the monetary policy rate from 26.25% and modify the asymmetric corridor to +500bps/-100bps from +100bps/-300bps.
The CBN committee decided to maintain the cash reserve ratio at 14.0% for merchant banks and 45.0% for deposit money banks (DMBs) in a unanimous vote. Furthermore, the committee keeps the liquidity ratio at 30.0%.
