The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Tuesday retained its benchmark interest rate at 11.5 percent amid improvement in inflation.
This comes not as a surprise as analysts in the financial services sector had expected a hold following weak growth amid declining inflation.
The CBN has kept the MPR at 11.5 percent since September 2020.
Nigeria’s inflation dropped to 17.75 percent in June 2021 from 17.93 percent in May 2021 according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
Read also: Nigerias high inflation threatens to worsen already low savings rate
In the fourth quarter of 2020, Nigerian economy sluggishly recovered from recession it slipped into in the second quarter (Q2) 2020 – after output contracted for the second consecutive quarters.
Real GDP grew by 0.51 percent in the first quarter of 2021 from 0.11 per cent in Q4 2020, according to data from the NBS.
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Hope Moses-Ashike
Hope Moses-Ashike is an Associate Editor, Banking and Finance, with more than a decade of experience reporting on Nigeria’s financial system and broader economy. She closely tracks market movements, monetary policy decisions, company disclosures, regulatory actions, economic indicators, and global developments, and interprets what they mean for businesses, investors, policymakers, and households. Her reporting helps readers understand complex issues such as inflation trends, foreign exchange market dynamics, interest rate decisions, bank performance, and investment risks.
She also covers major international events and periodically travels to Washington, D.C., to report on the World Bank/IMF Spring and Annual Meetings.
Her dedication to financial journalism has earned her multiple recognitions and invitations to high-level professional development programmes. She is an alumna of the International Visitors Leadership Programme (IVLP) in the United States and holds an Advanced Financial Journalism Certificate from the Press Association Training in London, UK. Her other notable achievements include completing the Lagos Business School CMC Programme, the Bloomberg Media Africa Initiative Programme, and a Master Class in Journalism at Rhodes University in South Africa.
