The Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has voted for an increment in the benchmark interest rate by 50 basis points to 18 per cent.
Godwin Emefiele, governor of the CBN, disclosed this while reading the communiqué of the second MPC meeting of the year in Abuja on Tuesday.
Speaking at the end of the two-day meeting in Abuja, he said the MPC voted to keep the asymmetric corridor at +100 and -500 basis points around the MPR.
According to The Punch, economy analysts had predicted that the CBN and the MPC may not increase the lending rates at the end of the Monetary Policy Committee.
The outcome of the MPC meeting showed that the CBN has raised the interest rates. According to the governor, he stated that the slight increase is to mitigate the effect of inflation and other economic issues.
The MPR has been on the rise since April 2022, when it was 11.50 per cent.
The rate impacts lending and inflation rates, and, when jacked up, consequently affects upward movement of prices of goods and services.
