The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has stated that it will pursue price stability in order to attract foreign investors as the nation faces recession and rising inflation.
The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, according to a report from Reuters, on Monday, October 4, stated this in an interview. In September, the CBN left its benchmark rate at 14 percent, shunning calls from the finance minister to lower borrowing costs to help the government borrow more domestically without increasing its debt servicing costs.
The apex bank had said it would keep interest rates tight to attract foreign currency and resolve a chronic dollar shortage brought on by a slump in oil prices.
“The CBN does not reckon that curbing inflation, attracting foreign investors and supporting growth are mutually exclusive objectives,” Emefiele told The Banker magazine, in the interview published on Saturday.
“The bank will continue to ensure that its decisions not only consider price and financial system stability, but also issues of employment and growth,” Emefiele said.
The CBN has said policymakers will need to act together on fiscal, monetary and trade policies to jump start growth, and that interest rate cuts alone will not help pull Nigeria out of its first recession in 20 years.
