The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) may raise the benchmark interest rate if government spending increases before elections in 2015, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, governor of the apex bank, has said.
While finance minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has curbed expenditure, there will be probably more tightening “if the politicians spend money,” Sanusi said on Monday in an interview on CNBC Africa television. “Frankly, if you look at what’s happening in Nigeria, the election has already started one way or the other.”
The CBN left its policy rate unchanged at a record high of 12 percent for the 10th consecutive meeting on May 21, concerned spending is poised to rise as the government battles Islamist insurgents in the Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states.
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