The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has postponed its first Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting for 2020, earlier scheduled to hold next week Monday and Tuesday, to January 20 and 21, 2020
The banking sector regulator disclosed this in a two-paragraph statement obtained last night, which was signed by its Director, Corporate Communications, Mr. Isaac Okorafor.
The Bank, however, did not give reasons for the decision.
The statement read: “The first meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee of the CBN for 2020, earlier slated to hold on Monday and Tuesday, January 20 and 21, 2020, respectively, has now been rescheduled for Thursday and Friday, January 23 and 24, 2020.
“The CBN regrets any inconvenience this change may have caused its stakeholders and the general public.”
The MPC had at its last meeting, decided by a unanimous vote to retain the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) at 13.5 per cent and to hold all other policy parameters constant for the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) at 22.5 per cent, Liquidity Ratio (LR) at 30 per cent, and the Asymmetric Corridor at +200-500 basis points around the MPR.
The CBN last week decided, in the interim, to retain the minimum loan-to-deposit (LDR) ratio for commercial and merchant banks at 65 per cent.
It had based its decision on what it described as remarkable increase in credit to the private sector.
The CBN has noticed remarkable increase in the size of gross credit by deposit money banks (DMBs) to customers. “Accordingly, the CBN has decided to retain the minimum 65 per cent LDR in the interim. All DMBs are required to maintain this level and are further advised that average daily figures are to be applied to assess compliance going forward.
Source: THISDAY
