The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has for the second time in 2023 raised its benchmark lending rate to 18 percent in a sustained push to control inflation and ease pressure on the naira.
The CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele made this known at the end of the Monetary Policy Committee meeting in Abuja, on Tuesday, March 21, 2023.
Addressing journalists at the end of the two-day meeting in Abuja, Mr Emefiele, said the committee voted to keep the asymmetric corridor at +100 and -500 basis points around the MPR.
He also said that although inflation has remained on the increase, the tightening measure has continued to reduce the rate of the price increase.
The MPR has been on the rise since April 2022, when it was 11.50 per cent.
The rate impacts lending and inflation rates, and, when jacked up, consequently affects upward movement of prices of goods and services.
The Apex bank governor also disclosed that the MPC voted to keep the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) at 32.5 percent, as well as the Liquidity Ratio at 30percent.
The CRR is the share of a bank’s total customer deposit that must be kept with the central bank in the form of liquid cash, while the bank’s liquidity ratio is the proportion of deposits and other assets they must maintain to be able to meet short-term obligations.
