CBN retains all policy rates

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has again retained the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR), the country’s benchmark interest rate, at 26.5 per cent.

The CBN Governor, Mr Olayemi Cardoso, made this known while presenting the communique from the 306th meeting of the committee on Tuesday in Abuja.

Cardoso, who doubles as the Chairman of the committee, said that 11 members present at the meeting unanimously agreed on the policy decisions.

He said that the committee also agreed to retain the Standing Facilities Corridor at +50 / -450 basis points around the MPR.

He said that the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) was also retained at 45 per cent for Deposit Money Banks, 16 per cent for Merchant Banks, and 75 per cent for non-TSA public sector deposits.

Our correspondent reports that the committee had earlier retained all the policy rates in its 305th meeting in May, after marginally reducing the MPR by 50 basis points in February.

This lowered the benchmark interest rate from 27.00 per cent to 26.50 per cent.(NAN