The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has raised its benchmark lending rate to 22.75 percent as a proactive measure to control inflation.
Olayemi Cardoso, the CBN governor, announced this on Tuesday at the end of the bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting that began Monday.
The new rate is 400 basis points from the previous rate of 18.75 percent, maintained since the MPC’s last convening on July 24 and 25, 2023.
“Previous policy rate hikes have slowed the rise in inflationary pressure but not to a desirable extent,” said Cardoso, explaining the rationale behind the aggressive push.
The MPC meeting, the first under Cardoso, had been viewed by many Nigerians as a test of the bank’s seriousness in curbing worsening inflation.
Nigeria’s inflation rate currently stands at 29.90 percent, largely driven by the removal of the national fuel subsidy and the dramatic depreciation of the naira that has seen the local currency losing about 50 per cent of its value against the dollar after tight forex rules were relaxed in June 2023.
—Ezinwanne Onwuka reports for TruthNigeria from Abuja.
