The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has announced that the 301st meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), where key interest rate decisions are made, will take place on Monday, July 21, and Tuesday, July 22, 2025.

According to the notice from the apex bank, the meeting will be held at the MPC Meeting room, at CBN head office, Abuja.

At its last meeting in May, the MPC unanimously voted to hold the benchmark policy rate at 27.50 percent. The decision reflected cautious optimism amid improving macroeconomic fundamentals. The Committee had noted that narrowing gaps between the official and parallel exchange rates, falling prices of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), and a favourable trade balance signaled potential easing in inflationary pressures.

Members also acknowledged relative stability in the foreign exchange market and emphasised the importance of sustaining ongoing monetary reforms to reinforce market confidence.

Analysts at Afrinvest Securities Limited anticipate that the MPC will maintain its policy stance despite signs of disinflation and foreign exchange stability. They attributed their projection to continued external risks, food supply shocks caused by recent insecurity and flooding, and uncertainties arising from the delayed release of Nigeria’s rebased GDP figures for Q1 2025.

During the May meeting, the MPC had warned that reinflationary pressures were still significant, arguing that maintaining elevated interest rates was necessary to mitigate those risks. The Committee also raised concerns that any premature rate cut might destabilise the naira, especially as the current FX rate gains have been supported by attractive yields on Open Market Operation (OMO) bills.

 

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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.

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