The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Tuesday after the second two-day Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) in the year, raised its benchmark interest rate known as the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR), by 50 basis point to 18%, the sixth straight time.
Godwin Emefiele, governor of the CBN, who disclosed this after the MPC meeting in Abuja said a moderate tightening may slow the rate of deceleration in inflation without necessarily hurting output.
Nigeria’s inflation rate accelerated to 21.91 percent in February 2023 from 21.82 in January, fueled essentially by cost of energy, food and Naira scarcity, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
Data from the NBS showed that Nigeria’s annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate slowed to 3.10 per cent in 2022, compared to 3.40 per cent in 2021.
The MPC also kept unchanged the asymmetric corridor at +100/-700 basis points around the MPR, retained Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) at 32.5 percent and liquidity ratio at 30 percent.
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.
