Lagos|Olayemi Cardoso, CBN’s Governor
The monetary policy committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Tuesday ended its 307th meeting in Abuja with a cut in the Monetary Policy Rate (MPT) from 26.5 percent to 23 percent.
Olayemi Cardoso, CBN’s Governor, made the revelation while addressing the media, said that 11 members of the Committee present at the meeting, decided to, “Recalibrate the standing facilities’ corridor to +50/-300 basis points around the MPR; retain the Cash Reserves Requirement (CRR) for Deposit Money Banks at 45 percent, Merchant Banks at 16 percent and Non TSA public sector deposits at 75 percent.”
According to Cardoso, with the current stability in the market, there was no better time to adjust the rate than now.
His words, “We are in a position of stability. The tightening we have done in the past has worked. FX pressure has receded. Capital market growth is because of the FX market stability. Investor confidence has come back. We have nothing to fear. This is a reset and a recalibration. No better time to do it than now when things are stable.”
Mr. Cardoso said that the past tightening actions had achieved increased resilience demonstrated by the Nigerian economy, reflected by the moderating inflation, robust external reserve buffers, improved external sector fundamentals, and strengthening investor confidence.
